Summary:
The Moss Point School District is served by a single middle school, Magnolia Middle School, which enrolls 359 students in grades 6–8 with a student-teacher ratio of 13.4 and a 100% free/reduced lunch population. Because this is the district’s only middle school, its performance represents the entire middle-level picture for the area.
Magnolia Middle School has shown meaningful academic progress, especially in mathematics. Over the past year, 7th grade math proficiency jumped from 44.9% to 56.2%, and 8th grade math rose from 25.4% to 38.9%, narrowing the gap with state averages significantly. Overall subject proficiency increased from 32.8% to 37.4%. However, the school still trails Mississippi in every tested subject and grade level. English Language Arts remains a persistent weakness, with 7th grade ELA at just 24.5% proficient and no ELA grade reaching 40%. An exception to the overall trend is 8th grade science at 45.9%, which is the strongest subject after 7th grade math. Despite the gains, the school’s star rating slipped from 2 stars in 2023–2024 to 1 star in 2025–2026, and its percentile rank remains in the upper 20s.
Chronic absenteeism is a major concern: 38.3% of students were chronically absent in 2023–2024, well above the state rate of 23.9% and slightly above the district rate of 36.7%. Combined with a 100% poverty rate, this creates real challenges for learning. The most encouraging story is the rapid improvement in 7th and 8th grade math, suggesting that targeted instruction is working. Moving forward, the school will need to focus on raising literacy scores, reducing absenteeism, and sustaining the math momentum. Parents should view Magnolia Middle School as a school in transition, with clear bright spots in math and science but significant work still needed in reading and overall proficiency.
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