Greenwood High School/Votech

Greenwood High School/Votech is a public high school in Greenwood, MS, serving 633 students in grades 9–12 and operating in an extremely high-poverty area where nearly all students qualify for free/reduced lunch. The school is part of the Greenwood-Leflore Consolidated School District, which ranks in the bottom 10% of Mississippi districts. Academically, Greenwood ranks in the bottom 10–15% of Mississippi high schools—though it improved from the 5th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 13th percentile in 2025-2026.

The most striking concern for parents to know is chronic absenteeism. In 2023-2024, 40.6% of Greenwood students were chronically absent—roughly 2.5 times the state average (23.9%) and dramatically higher than nearby schools like Amanda Elzy High School (12.4%), Leflore County High School (16.1%), and J.Z. George High School (27.6%). Greenwood also has a higher student-to-teacher ratio (16.0) than all nearby schools, which may mean less individualized attention. The graduation rate has declined from 91.7% in 2021-2022 to 82.6% in 2024-2025, well below the state average of 89.2%, though still ahead of Leflore County's 75.0%.

Despite these challenges, Greenwood shows relative strengths. In 2025-2026, it led nearby schools in English II (34.4% proficient) and was competitive in Biology (47.5%, second only to Leflore County's 51.1%) and U.S. History (59.5% in 2024-2025). The clearest academic weakness is math—only 25.5% of students scored proficient in Algebra I, far below the state average of 66% and below J.Z. George's 56.3%. The biggest opportunity for improvement is attendance; reducing chronic absenteeism toward the state's 24% level would likely boost both academic performance and graduation rates. The "Votech" designation suggests a career and technical education focus, which may partly explain the year-to-year test score volatility.