Summary:
Aberdeen School District contains one middle school, Belle-Shivers Middle School, serving grades 5 through 8 with 266 students in a high-poverty area where every student qualifies for free/reduced lunch. The school is the only middle school in the district, so parents should focus on its performance relative to state benchmarks and year-over-year trends. Belle-Shivers currently holds a 1-star rating and ranks 184th out of 260 Mississippi middle schools, which puts it in the bottom third of the state after slipping from a 2-star rating and 176th place the previous year.
On the 2025–2026 MAAP tests, the school fell below state averages in every subject and grade level. The closest gap was in 7th grade ELA, where 30.2% of students were proficient compared to the state's 36.7%, a difference of 6.5 points. The largest gaps were in 5th grade Science, where 47.5% scored proficient versus 71.5% statewide, and 7th grade Math, where only 37.2% scored proficient versus 57.7% statewide. There were some bright spots: math proficiency in 6th grade was close to the state average, and science proficiency outpaced ELA proficiency within the school in both 5th and 8th grades.
Several year-over-year trends stand out. All ELA grades improved, led by 7th grade with a 10.8-point gain, but still remain well below state averages. Math scores were volatile, with 7th grade dropping 25.5 points after being above the state the prior year, while 8th grade math improved by 11.8 points. Chronic absenteeism stands at 20.7%, which is better than the state rate of 23.9% but still means roughly one in five students miss substantial instructional time. The student-to-teacher ratio of 10.8 is favorable and could support targeted interventions to continue improving achievement.
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