Calhoun County School District

The Calhoun County School District in Mississippi serves grades PK-12 across 5 schools—2 elementary schools, 2 high schools serving grades 5-12, and 1 PK-12 alternative school—with no standalone middle schools, and ranks 57th out of 134 Mississippi districts with a 3-star rating. Vardaman Attendance Center, despite its "alternative" label, is the district's largest school (624 students) and its all-around hidden leader, with the lowest chronic absenteeism (7.2%) and the district's strongest end-of-course results, including Biology (83.9% proficient), English II (63.1%), 8th-grade Science (78.3%), and 8th-grade Math (53.3%). However, it struggles in the early grades, with only 26% proficiency in 3rd-grade ELA and 23.8% in 7th-grade ELA, showing uneven performance across grade levels.

Bruce High School stands out for its 93.7% graduation rate—the highest in the district—and the strongest 5th-8th grade ELA and math averages among the two high schools, but its ranking slipped from 3 stars to 2 stars after Algebra I proficiency plunged from 73.8% to 42.0%. Calhoun City High School is the district's biggest improver, jumping from the 16th to 43rd percentile, with math proficiency up 11 points and English II up 13.3 points, yet it still has the district's lowest graduation rate (86.3%). Among elementary schools, Bruce Elementary is the academic bright spot, with 4th-grade math at 67.4% proficiency and chronic absenteeism at just 10.1%, while Calhoun City Elementary faces the highest poverty (91.5% free/reduced lunch) and the lowest elementary test averages.

The most striking patterns are high chronic absenteeism at the secondary level (both high schools around 25%, while all other schools are below 14%), dramatic year-to-year volatility in end-of-course scores, and a clear connection between poverty and achievement—Calhoun City schools, which serve higher-poverty populations, consistently post lower outcomes and graduation rates. Elementary math also shows wide grade-level gaps, like Bruce Elementary's 41-point difference between 3rd-grade (26.2%) and 4th-grade (67.4%) math, pointing to potential curriculum or cohort issues worth investigating.