T.L. Weston Middle School

T.L. Weston Middle School serves 412 students in grades 6–8 in Greenville, MS, a high-poverty community where every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is part of the Greenville Public School District, which ranks in the bottom third of Mississippi districts. While T.L. Weston's overall state ranking is low, the school has notable strengths that set it apart from its peers.

One of the biggest challenges at T.L. Weston is chronic absenteeism. In 2023–24, 46.5% of students were chronically absent—more than double the state average of 23.9% and far above the 19.4% at Simmons Junior High School and 10.3% at Leland School Park. The school also has the largest enrollment and highest student-teacher ratio (16.3) among nearby middle schools, including Coleman Middle School (11.8), Simmons (13.6), and Leland (14.4). Despite these obstacles, T.L. Weston generally outperforms Coleman, its same-district peer, in most subjects—for example, 6th grade math proficiency was 25% at T.L. Weston versus 7.5% at Coleman in 2024–25.

Academically, T.L. Weston shows uneven but promising results. The school’s advanced math track is a standout: Algebra I End-of-Course proficiency reached 75% in both 2023–24 and 2024–25 and 100% in 2022–23, far above the district rate of around 20–26%. Seventh grade math also consistently beats the district average. Meanwhile, 6th grade ELA has improved steadily from 14.9% in 2022–23 to 37% in 2025–26, though 8th grade ELA remains weak at 16.7%. The sharp rise in chronic absenteeism since the pandemic—from 23.6% in 2018–19 to 46.5% in 2023–24—appears to be a major factor holding the school back. For parents, the key takeaway is that T.L. Weston has proven strengths in math and is capable of strong performance, but improving attendance would likely be the single biggest lever for lifting overall achievement.