Summary:
The Covington County School District in Mississippi includes three elementary schools serving grades PK-6 in a high-poverty area where 98-99% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Collins Elementary School serves grades PK-6 with 474 students, Seminary Elementary serves grades K-4 with 420 students, and Hopewell Elementary School serves grades K-6 with 196 students. While the district is ranked 68th of 134 districts (49th percentile), these three schools tell very different stories.
The clear standout is Seminary Elementary, which ranks 14th of 377 Mississippi elementary schools (96th percentile) and earns a 5-star rating. Despite 99% poverty, its 2025-2026 math proficiency was 83.6% and ELA was 69.4%—far above district and state averages. By contrast, Collins Elementary ranks 316th (16th percentile) with 1 star and scores below district and state averages in every subject. Its 4th-grade math proficiency is just 18.7% and 4th-grade ELA is 25%. Hopewell sits in the middle with a 45th-percentile ranking, but its trajectory is slipping—it fell from the 73rd percentile in 2023-2024 to the 45th in 2025-2026—even though its 5th-grade science (68-77%) and 6th-grade math (62.9%) are genuine bright spots.
Chronic absenteeism at these elementary schools is actually lower than the district average of 33.6%, ranging from 18.1% at Hopewell to 24% at Collins. Interestingly, the school with the lowest student-teacher ratio (Hopewell at 11.9) is not the top performer—Seminary has the highest ratio (16.7) and the best results. The clearest takeaway is that poverty and class size don't determine outcomes. Seminary proves high-poverty schools can excel, and the district would benefit from studying what makes Seminary successful and applying those practices to Collins and Hopewell.
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