Hinds County School District

The Hinds County School District serves roughly 4,940 students across 8 schools — 5 elementary/middle combination schools, 1 standalone middle school, and 2 high schools — in the Jackson, Mississippi area, with nearly 79% of students qualifying for free/reduced-price lunch and the district as a whole ranking in the 31st percentile statewide with a 2-star rating.

The standout schools are clear. Raymond Elementary/Carver Middle is the district's strongest school, ranking in the 56th percentile with a 3-star rating and posting exceptional math and science scores — 70.8% proficiency in 8th grade math and 83.7% in 5th grade science, both well above state averages. Byram Middle School is the most improved, climbing from the 31st to the 49th percentile over two years, with a remarkable 96.1% Algebra I pass rate. Gary Road Intermediate is the most consistent elementary option and has the district's lowest chronic absenteeism at 10.8%. Among high schools, Terry High School leads with an 84.6% graduation rate and strong Biology and U.S. History results, though both it and Raymond High School struggle with chronic absenteeism above 40% and English II proficiency around 34%.

The most urgent concern is Utica Elementary Mid School, which has collapsed from the 44th percentile to the 5th percentile in two years, with 3rd grade math plummeting from 43.8% to 12.9% proficiency. By contrast, Bolton-Edwards Elementary Middle School is improving despite 100% poverty, jumping from the 13th to the 30th percentile. Overall, math and science are genuine bright spots across the district, while English language arts is the weakest pillar. High-poverty schools like Raymond and Byram outperform their demographics, proving school-level practices matter. Notably, Gary Road Elementary (PK-2) has no test data available, leaving a blind spot in assessing early learning in the district's largest elementary campus.