Summary:
The Natchez-Adams School District operates two elementary schools—West Elementary School serving pre-kindergarten through first grade (376 students) and McLaurin Elementary serving second through fourth grade (642 students)—that together educate about 1,018 children in the Natchez, Mississippi area. The two schools form a clean feeder pattern with no grade overlap: children attend West for their earliest school years, then move to McLaurin beginning in second grade. The district overall ranks in the 30th percentile of Mississippi districts with a 2-star rating.
When comparing the two schools, McLaurin is clearly the stronger academic performer. It ranks 282nd out of 377 Mississippi elementary schools (25th percentile), while West ranks 345th of 390 (12th percentile). Both hold 1-star ratings, and neither is trending upward—McLaurin dropped from the 45th percentile in 2018–2019, while West fell from the 21st percentile in 2022–2023. On state tests, McLaurin trails Mississippi averages in every subject, but math is a relative strength: 4th grade math proficiency (45.2%) sits just 6.3 points behind the state average, while 3rd grade English Language Arts (30.6%) trails the state by 17.9 points.
Both schools serve essentially all economically disadvantaged students—100% of McLaurin and 99.73% of West qualify for free/reduced lunch—yet their chronic absenteeism rates (17.7% at McLaurin, 18.3% at West) are better than the state average of 23.9%. Student-teacher ratios are similar, at 15.1 for McLaurin and 14.6 for West. Because West serves no tested grades, McLaurin is the sole driver of the district's elementary accountability scores. The key takeaway is that this is a small, high-poverty district where early learning at West is critical to later success at McLaurin, and where math performance is notably stronger than reading across tested grades.
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