Fairview Elementary School

Fairview Elementary School is a small PK-5 school in Columbus, MS, serving about 244 students in the Columbus Municipal School District. Nearly all of its students come from low-income families, with essentially 100% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school has ranked in the bottom quarter of Mississippi elementary schools for most of the past decade, currently holding a 1-star rating and ranking 339th out of 377 schools statewide. That places it near the bottom of its own district, though slightly above Stokes Beard Elementary School.

Academically, Fairview trails state averages by a wide margin. In the most recent testing year, only 32.4% of 3rd graders and 20.6% of 4th graders were proficient in reading, compared to state averages of 48.5% and 52.4%. Math proficiency was similarly low. The contrast with nearby schools in the Lowndes County School District is striking — Caledonia Elementary, which serves a far more economically mixed population, posted proficiency rates of 63.7% to 72.6% in the same grades. That said, Fairview is not alone in its struggles; neighboring Columbus schools like Cook Elementary and Sale Elementary also rank in the bottom 15% of schools statewide.

There are some bright spots worth noting. Fairview's chronic absenteeism has consistently been lower than its district average — 18% in 2022-2023 versus 30.1% for the district — suggesting good family engagement despite the challenges of poverty. The 2023-2024 school year was the school's best in a decade, earning 2 stars with 5th grade science proficiency at 69.4%, near the state average. The following year, 4th graders posted strong results in reading and math before scores fell again with a new cohort. This year-to-year swing reflects a small school where performance is heavily influenced by individual classrooms, meaning progress can be real but fragile.