Coahoma County High School

Coahoma County High School is a public high school in Clarksdale, Mississippi, serving 345 students in grades 9–12 as part of the Coahoma County School District, where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school's clearest strength is its graduation rate of 90.7% (2024-25), which exceeds the state average of 89.2% and beats nearby Clarksdale High School (84.6%) and Madison Palmer High School (85.4%). That rate has climbed steadily from 79.2% in 2020-21, showing real progress in getting students across the finish line.

However, academic proficiency tells a different story. On the most recent state End of Course exams, only 26.3% of students scored proficient in Algebra I, 21.0% in English II, and 21.7% in Biology — all far below state averages of roughly 49–66%. After sitting in the 22nd percentile of Mississippi high schools for two straight years, the school dropped sharply to 223rd of 224 in the 2025-26 ranking. Proficiency fell 13–15 points across every core subject in a single year, a uniform decline that suggests an unusually weak cohort or changes in testing conditions. Chronic absenteeism stands at 29.8%, above the state average of 23.9% but far better than Clarksdale High School's 57.1%.

Compared with its neighbors, Coahoma County High School is not the weakest school in the immediate area. It outperforms Clarksdale High School in graduation rate, absenteeism, and most 2024-25 subject tests, and even beat Madison Palmer High School in Algebra I (39.3% vs. 33.4%) that same year. Its U.S. History proficiency of 69.7% exactly matched the state average in 2024-25. With a student-teacher ratio of 13.8 and a student body facing extreme poverty, the school's outcomes are mixed but not uniformly bleak. The urgent question for parents and district leaders is why core-subject proficiency fell so suddenly, and whether the district's support systems can stabilize instruction before the next testing cycle.