Summary:
Hazlehurst City School District contains a single elementary school, Hazlehurst Elementary, serving grades PK through 5 in a very high-poverty area. With 643 students and a student-teacher ratio of 17.5, this school represents the entire elementary landscape for the district. Nearly all students (99.53%) qualify for free/reduced lunch, making this one of the most economically disadvantaged elementary schools in Mississippi.
Hazlehurst Elementary has consistently earned a 1-star rating, ranking in the bottom fifth of Mississippi elementary schools; its percentile slipped from 23rd to 18th over three years. The most urgent concern is mathematics: in 2025–26, only 17.0% of 3rd graders and 20.6% of 5th graders were proficient in math, about 30 points below state averages. Math scores also dropped sharply from the prior year, especially in 5th grade (46.2% to 20.6%). English Language Arts shows a more positive pattern, with proficiency climbing from 31.9% in 3rd grade to 50.5% in 5th grade, though still below state averages. A notable bright spot is 5th grade science, where 65.6% of students were proficient, nearly matching the state rate of 71.5%.
Chronic absenteeism affects about one in three students at the school, well above the state rate of 23.9% but better than the district average of 40.8%. The school’s high-poverty context is an important background factor, but the data also reveal areas of hope, such as strong science performance and steady ELA gains across grades. The dramatic math declines, combined with a falling state percentile, suggest that targeted interventions in early-grade math and attendance will be critical for improvement at Hazlehurst Elementary.
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