Quitman County School District

Quitman County School District is a small, rural Mississippi district serving about 835 students in grades PK–12 across three schools: Quitman County Elementary, Quitman County Middle School, and Madison Palmer High School. All three schools report 100% free/reduced lunch eligibility, reflecting a deeply economically disadvantaged student population.

Quitman County Elementary is the district’s clear standout. It is the only school with above-state math proficiency in every tested grade, posting 53.2% third-grade and 52.4% fourth-grade math proficiency in 2025–26, both above the Mississippi averages. It also has the district’s lowest chronic absenteeism at 19.6%, even better than the state average. In contrast, Quitman County Middle School faces severe academic challenges. Its math proficiency collapses by 5th grade—only 17.3% of 5th graders and 17% of 8th graders are proficient, compared to state averages near 50%. The middle school ranks in the bottom quarter of Mississippi middle schools and has the district’s highest student–teacher ratio at 25.8, suggesting larger class sizes during a critical transition period.

Madison Palmer High School is highly volatile: it ranked at the 64th percentile statewide in 2024–25, then plunged to the 17th percentile in 2025–26. English II proficiency dropped from 56.9% to 29.1% in one year, while chronic absenteeism reached 37.3%—the highest in the district. The high school also trails badly in Algebra I, with just 37.7% proficiency vs. 66% statewide. The district overall ranks in the bottom quarter of Mississippi districts. However, the elementary school’s success in math shows that high-poverty schools can achieve grade-level results. The biggest opportunity is addressing the middle school math collapse and high school absenteeism, which appear to be the district’s most pressing challenges.