Holly Springs Junior High School

Holly Springs Junior High School is a small public middle school in Holly Springs, Mississippi, serving 145 students in grades 7 and 8 within the Holly Springs School District. Historically ranked in the bottom quarter of Mississippi middle schools, the school posted a breakout performance in 2025-26, jumping from the 13th percentile (232nd of 266) to the 42nd percentile (151st of 260) and earning a 2-star rating—its best showing in over a decade. This 29-point improvement means Holly Springs Junior High now outperforms nearby Byhalia Middle School, which sits in the 32nd percentile.

The school's brightest spot is 7th grade mathematics. In 2025-26, 71.4% of 7th graders scored proficient or above on the MAAP Mathematics test—well above the state average of 57.7% and nearly double the 38% proficiency rate at Byhalia Middle School. This is up dramatically from 32.8% the prior year. Smaller class sizes may be an enabling factor; the student-teacher ratio of 12.9 compares favorably to Holly Springs Intermediate School (17.6) and Byhalia Middle School (16.1).

Challenges remain, especially in science, where only 40% of 8th graders scored proficient in MAAP Science—17.8 points below the state average. English Language Arts also trails the state, though 8th grade ELA jumped from 13.8% to 31.0% in one year. Chronic absenteeism, while still above the state rate of 23.9%, has fallen steadily from 54.3% in 2020-21 to 28.2% in 2023-24. The school serves a very high-need population—91% of students qualified for free/reduced lunch—making the recent gains especially promising. The next year or two will show whether this is a sustainable turnaround or a one-cohort phenomenon.