Water Valley School District

The Water Valley School District is a small Mississippi district serving roughly 997 students across just two schools: Davidson Elementary School (grades PK-6) and Water Valley High School (grades 7-12, which also houses the district's middle school grades). The district ranks 77th out of 134 Mississippi districts, placing it in the 43rd percentile with a 2-star rating. This is a high-poverty area, with roughly 73.5% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, though chronic absenteeism is below the state average.

Water Valley High School is clearly the district's academic anchor. It ranks in the 47th percentile of Mississippi high schools, ahead of Davidson Elementary School's 31st percentile. The high school posts a 92.3% graduation rate (above the state's 89.2%) and a standout 77.4% proficiency in Algebra I, a full 11.4 points above the state. Davidson Elementary, meanwhile, shines in the upper grades: 6th grade math (63.2% proficient) and 6th grade ELA (52.6%) both beat the state average, and the school improved from a 1-star to a 2-star rating. However, weak spots are dramatic at both schools. Water Valley High School's 7th grade ELA proficiency is just 18.0% — the lowest score in the entire dataset — while Davidson's 4th grade math proficiency (25.3%) trails the state by 26.2 points, the largest negative gap anywhere in the district.

Year-over-year scores swing widely, suggesting small cohorts and real volatility rather than stable trends. For example, Davidson's 6th grade math jumped from 31.3% to 63.2%, while its 5th grade math fell from 64.9% to 44.2%. Chronic absenteeism is much higher at Water Valley High School (19.7%) than at Davidson Elementary (10.5%), though both remain below the 23.9% state average. Science is a relative weakness at both schools, with Davidson's 5th grade science and Water Valley's Biology both trailing the state by double digits. Overall, this is a middling, high-poverty district with notable bright spots in Algebra I, graduation rates, and upper-elementary math, but with significant gaps in transition-year grades like 4th and 7th.