Richton School District

The Richton School District is a small Mississippi district with two schools—Richton Elementary School (grades K–6, 305 students) and Richton High School (grades 7–12, 281 students)—sharing one campus and serving mostly low-income families, with roughly 62–64% of students eligible for free/reduced lunch.

Both schools hold 3-star ratings, with Richton High School ranking 97th of 224 (57th percentile) and Richton Elementary School ranking 180th of 377 (52nd percentile). The high school posts a 94.1% graduation rate, well above the state's 89.2%, and leads in math: 78.5% proficiency in Algebra I and 69.6% in 7th grade math. Yet it lags in ELA and science—8th grade science is 21.5 points below the state—and chronic absenteeism of 32.7% is nearly triple the elementary school's 11.6%. The elementary school counters with excellent attendance and strong upper-grade math: 75% in 5th grade and 76.3% in 6th grade, both far above state averages. However, 4th grade math (26.3%) and 6th grade ELA (31.6%) are glaring weak spots.

The most notable pattern is volatility: 5th grade math jumped 33.2 points and 4th grade math fell 26.4 points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, reflecting the large impact of small cohorts. Both schools keep class sizes small, with student-teacher ratios around 13:1. Despite high poverty, the district outperforms the state in graduation and Algebra I, showing clear strengths to build on. The priorities for improvement are high school attendance, literacy and science at the secondary level, and consistency in elementary math.