Summary:
The Tate County School District in rural Mississippi serves three K–6 elementary schools—East Tate Elementary in Coldwater, Strayhorn Elementary School in Sarah, and Coldwater Elementary School in Coldwater—with a combined enrollment of 1,093 students and a district ranking of 109th out of 134 Mississippi districts.
Strayhorn is the clear standout: it holds a steady 3-star rating, ranks 166th out of 377 elementary schools (56th percentile), and posts the district's highest test scores with a 53.3% overall proficiency average. It also has the lowest chronic absenteeism (20.5%) and free/reduced lunch rate (69.5%). In early grades, Strayhorn beats the state, reaching 57.2% proficiency in 3rd grade ELA and 69.3% in 4th grade ELA. At the other end, Coldwater is the lowest-performing school, ranking 320th (15th percentile) with a 34.7% proficiency average. It has the highest poverty rate (91.1%) and absenteeism (27.2%), though it did post bright spots like 59.2% in 4th grade math in 2024–2025. East Tate sits in the middle with 473 students, a 26th-percentile rank, and a 40.9% proficiency average—but it saw sharp declines in 5th grade ELA (61.7% to 35.3%) and science (68.1% to 48.5%) between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026.
District-wide, 5th grade math is the most consistent weakness—every elementary school scored below the state average in both years. Poverty and absenteeism track closely with performance across the three schools, suggesting that non-academic barriers matter. Notably, Coldwater has the smallest class sizes (11.3 student-teacher ratio) yet the lowest scores, indicating that staffing alone doesn't drive results. Strayhorn's success shows that strong early-grade instruction can produce above-state results even with nearly 70% of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch.
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