Summary:
Located in the town of Pontotoc, Mississippi, the Pontotoc City School District contains two elementary schools—Pontotoc Elementary School, serving grades PK-2, and DT Cox Elementary School, serving grades 3-4—which together enroll 1,011 students in a district ranked 84th percentile statewide with a 4-star rating.
DT Cox Elementary School is the clear academic standout of the two. Its 4th grade math proficiency reached 82.3% in 2024-2025 and remained very strong at 73.9% in 2025-2026, compared to state averages of 56.6% and 51.5%. The school has ranked in the top quartile of Mississippi elementary schools for three consecutive years, currently ranking 86th of 377 schools (77th percentile, 4 stars). By contrast, Pontotoc Elementary School, which serves the district's youngest learners, posts a chronic absenteeism rate of 24.8%—well above DT Cox's 16.3% and slightly above the state average of 23.9%.
Both schools serve similar economically diverse populations, with free/reduced lunch rates of 73.06% at Pontotoc Elementary School and 72.88% at DT Cox Elementary School, so differences in attendance and achievement cannot be attributed to economic disadvantage. DT Cox also operates with a lower student-teacher ratio of 12.8 versus 16.0. Math is consistently strong at DT Cox, with every reported math score exceeding the state average, while ELA results are more uneven: 3rd grade ELA dipped slightly below the state in 2024-2025, then improved to 55.2% versus 48.5% statewide in 2025-2026. Since Pontotoc Elementary feeds directly into DT Cox, reducing chronic absenteeism in grades PK-2 could further strengthen the district's already solid elementary performance. Notably, Pontotoc Elementary has no state test data due to its PK-2 grade span, making DT Cox the only school in this set with measured academic outcomes.
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