East Jasper School District

The East Jasper School District is a small, rural Mississippi district with three schools serving grades PK–12, and every school operates with a 100% free/reduced-price lunch population, indicating very high poverty levels across the area. The district ranks 76th out of 134 Mississippi districts, and its three schools — William J. Berry Elementary School, Heidelberg High School, and Heidelberg Junior High School — each serve a distinct grade span, with the elementary school being the largest at 389 students and the junior high the smallest at just 104.

Looking at standout performance, William J. Berry Elementary has improved its state percentile from 25th to 41st over two years and now earns a 2-star rating, with strong 3rd-grade ELA and a remarkable 25.5-point jump in 5th-grade math to 53.8% proficiency. Heidelberg High School shines in Algebra I at 78.1% proficiency, but its Biology score collapsed from 57.1% to 15.0% in a single year — a staggering 42.1-point drop that leaves it far below the state average. Heidelberg Junior High struggles most with ELA, where only about one in four students is proficient in 7th and 8th grade, although its math scores are more competitive, with 7th-grade math improving to 51.2%. When comparing schools, the elementary school is clearly trending upward, the high school is strong in math but has a major science concern, and the junior high is the weakest overall, especially in reading.

Across the district, math consistently outperforms English Language Arts at every level, making literacy the most urgent academic weakness — particularly in middle school, where 8th-grade ELA proficiency is barely above 24.5%. Interestingly, all three schools report dramatically lower chronic absenteeism than the state average (10.5% district-wide vs. 23.9% statewide), which is a positive foundation despite the high poverty levels. The junior high’s small size makes its year-to-year percentage swings volatile, but the persistently low ELA scores signal a systemic reading issue rather than a one-year fluke. For parents, the key takeaway is that East Jasper is a district with strong attendance, improving elementary math scores, and a clear need for literacy intervention, while the high school’s Biology decline deserves urgent investigation before the next school year.