High Schools in Forrest County Agricultural High School

There is just one high school in this area: Forrest County Agricultural High School, located in Brooklyn, Mississippi, serving grades 9 through 12 with 562 students. The school is also its own district, meaning the Forrest County Agricultural High School district shares the same metrics as the school itself. This is a school that serves a largely low-income community, with roughly 77% of students receiving free or reduced lunch, yet it has shown it can compete with the best schools in the state. It earned a 5-star rating and ranked 21st out of 232 high schools in 2024–2025, though it dropped to a 4-star rating and 65th place the following year.

Academically, the school consistently outperforms the Mississippi state average in most subjects. In the most recent test year, proficiency rates were above the state average in Algebra I (73.5% vs. 66.0%), Biology (71.1% vs. 63.1%), and English II (54.3% vs. 49.3%). The graduation rate of 89.9% is also slightly above the state average of 89.2%. However, there are some concerns. Test scores dropped sharply from the previous year, with Algebra I falling 11.3 points, English II falling 12.6 points, and Biology falling 6.0 points. The school also fell slightly below the state average in U.S. History. The biggest red flag is chronic absenteeism: 42.2% of students were chronically absent, nearly double the statewide rate of 23.9%.

For parents, this is a school with real strengths and real challenges. It achieves above-average academic results despite high poverty, and a student/teacher ratio of 10.8 means relatively small class sizes. But the large year-to-year swings in test scores and state rankings suggest instability, and the very high absenteeism rate likely holds the school back from being consistently excellent. The 2024–2025 school year shows what this school is capable of when students are engaged and present; the decline in 2025–2026 may be tied to attendance issues. If absenteeism could be reduced, this school has the potential to sustain its top-level performance.