Reimagine Prep

Reimagine Prep is a public charter middle school in Jackson, MS, serving 457 students in grades 5–8 in a high-poverty area of the state capital. As a single-school district, its rating is effectively its own: the Reimagine Prep district is rated 0 stars, ranked 130th of 134 Mississippi districts, and the school ranks 241st of 260 schools statewide — bottom 7%.

On Mississippi's MAAP tests, Reimagine Prep falls below state averages in every grade and subject, though it's not the weakest school in the area. It outperforms Powell Middle School, Peeples Middle School, Cardozo Middle School, and Blackburn Middle School in most subjects — 8th grade reading (23.1%) is double Peeples' 11.8%, and 8th grade math (26.1%) is four times Peeples' 5.9%. But the gap to stronger schools is enormous: Northwest Middle School posts 8th grade scores of 78.9% reading, 64.8% math, and 87.3% science. There are bright spots: 5th graders outperform upper grades, and between 2024–2025 and 2025–2026 the school improved in nearly every subject, with 5th grade math jumping from 4.4% to 32.3% proficient.

Attendance is the biggest concern. Chronic absenteeism hit 41.9% in 2023–2024 — nearly double the state rate of 23.9% and up from 9.4% before the pandemic. The student–teacher ratio has climbed to 21.7, the highest among nearby middle schools including Smilow Prep (20.0), Byram Middle School (16.8), Clinton Junior High School (14.7), and Pearl Junior High School (13.0). The school also reports no Algebra I End-of-Course results, suggesting few students are accelerated into advanced math. Most tellingly, Northwest Middle School, just 8 miles away, serves the same 100% free-lunch population yet achieves far better outcomes — proof that poverty alone doesn't explain the results.