1. Home
  2. Mississippi
  3. Cleveland
  4. Cleveland School District
  5. Cleveland Central Middle School
Beta You're viewing our redesigned school page. Prefer the classic layout?

Cleveland Central Middle School

Public Grades 7-8
199th
SchoolDigger Rank ?
of 263 Mississippi Middle Schools
Better than 24% of Mississippi middle schools
Summary

Cleveland Central Middle School serves grades 7–8 in Cleveland, MS, with 423 students, operating within the Cleveland School District in the Mississippi Delta. The school serves an almost exclusively low-income population, with 99.5% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024–2025. Chronic absenteeism is a significant concern, affecting 26.8% of students in 2023–2024 — well above the state average and dramatically higher than Drew Hunter Middle's 7.3% rate. The student-teacher ratio has also risen to 16.5, higher than both nearby middle schools and meaning less individual attention for students.

Academically, the most severe weakness is 8th grade math, where only 22.1% of students were proficient in 2025–2026, compared to 51.4% statewide and 50% at Drew Hunter. By contrast, 7th grade math is a relative bright spot at 52.8% proficiency, nearly matching the state average and far above Ruleville Middle School's 35.9%. English language arts scores are consistently low in both grades, with 26.8% of 7th graders and 25.5% of 8th graders proficient, placing Cleveland in the middle of its local peers and below state averages. Science is improving steadily, rising from 33.2% proficiency in 2022–2023 to 48.6% in 2025–2026 — still below the state's 57.8% but ahead of Ruleville and encouraging.

While the school ranks in the bottom quarter of Mississippi middle schools, its overall rank has crept upward over the past two years, from the 12th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 23rd percentile in 2025–2026. The sharpest improvement is in 7th grade math, which jumped nearly 30 percentage points in three years, while 8th grade math has stayed stuck near 20% — suggesting a target for intervention. Notably, the school's proficiency rates exactly match the district's rates, meaning Cleveland Central effectively defines the district's middle-grades performance. Reducing chronic absenteeism, which remains far above Drew Hunter's, appears to be the most promising lever for raising achievement across all subjects.

423
Students ?
16.5
Student/teacher ratio ?
$12,526
Per pupil spending ?
99.5%
Free/discounted lunch ?
 601 Lucy Seabery Dr
       Cleveland, MS  38732

(662) 843-2338

District: Cleveland School District

Racial breakdown:

African American:
75.4%
White:
15.8%
Hispanic:
4.5%
more
 See top rated Mississippi middle schools

 Compare Cleveland Central Middle School to nearby middle schools!
At a glance
▲ Ranking trend: Improving — 12th percentile in 2019 → 24th in 2026
Strengths
✓Ranking is trending up — up 12 percentile points since 2019
Worth a look
!Test scores below the Mississippi average (35% vs 49% meeting standards)
!In the lower quartile statewide (24th percentile)
!Mathematics scores 18 pts below the Mississippi average
Students meeting standards (2025-2026) ?
This school35%
District avg35%
Mississippi avg49%
199th of 263
Mississippi public middle schools ?
Bottom 24%▲ up 13 pts since 2019
From bottom 12% (2019) to bottom 24% (2026)
See the entire ranking list of Mississippi Middle Schools →
★★★★★
SchoolDigger rating ?
89th of 133Cleveland School District among Mississippi districts
Statewide rank percentile over time (100 = the top-ranked school in the state; click a legend item to add a student group)
Show full rank history (all student groups)

All Students

YearAvg scoreStatewide rankMississippi percentileRating
202628.3199 of 26324.3%★☆☆☆☆
202524.6207 of 26521.9%★☆☆☆☆
202415.3230 of 25911.2%★☆☆☆☆
202316.6202 of 22811.4%★☆☆☆☆
202215.6200 of 23314.2%★☆☆☆☆
202125.3166 of 22927.5%★☆☆☆☆
201915.2197 of 22311.7%★☆☆☆☆
By subject vs Mississippi (2025-2026) ?
Science49%-9 vs state
Mathematics36%-18 vs state
English Language Arts26%-13 vs state

★
No ratings yet
Be the first to rate Cleveland Central Middle School and help other families decide.
Rate Cleveland Central Middle School
Have first-hand experience? A quick rating - and a sentence or two about what stands out (teachers, academics, safety, communication) - helps other families know what to expect.
Takes about a minute. We email you a link to verify your review - your address is never shown publicly.
Tap a star to rate
Reviews
No written reviews yet. If you know this school, be the first to share what stands out.


Schools Near Cleveland Central Middle School

Sort
Ranking:
Map legend
E Elementary M Middle H High A Alternative P Private





Frequently Asked Questions about Cleveland Central Middle School

In the 2024-25 school year, 423 students attended Cleveland Central Middle School.

Cleveland Central Middle School ranks in the bottom 24.3% of Mississippi middle schools.

Students at Cleveland Central Middle School are 75% African American, 16% White, 4% Hispanic, 4% Two or more races.

Rate Cleveland Central Middle School!



Other helpful SchoolDigger resources...


Compare to nearby schools

MSMississippi Middle School Rankings

MSMississippi District Rankings

Schools in Cleveland, MS

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when there is an update for Cleveland Central Middle School!


Latest Mississippi data All new data »
2024–25 attendance dataNewOct 6, 2026
2025–26 MAAP test scoresAug 21, 2026
2023–24 school spending dataSep 26, 2025
2023–24 through 2024–25 attendance data & graduation ratesSep 26, 2025


SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Mississippi Department of Education.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS: Not all boundaries are included. We make every effort to ensure that boundaries are up-to-date. But it's important to note that these are approximations and are for general informational purposes only. To verify legal descriptions of boundaries or school locations, contact your local tax assessor's office and/or school district.

Diagnostics