Pecan Park Elementary School

Pecan Park Elementary School is a PK–5 school in Jackson, MS, serving 510 students in a high-poverty area where 100% of students qualify for free/reduced-price lunch. The school has a student-teacher ratio of 16.5:1 and is part of Jackson Public Schools, a district that ranks 112 out of 134 districts in Mississippi.

Academically, Pecan Park is performing near the bottom of Mississippi elementary schools. In the most recent ranking year (2025-2026), it ranked 365 out of 377 schools, placing it in the 3rd percentile with a 0-star rating. On the 2025-2026 MAAP assessments, Pecan Park fell below district and state averages in nearly every subject. For example, 5th grade ELA proficiency was 30% compared to the district's 44.3% and the state's 55.8%, while 5th grade math was just 14.3% versus 32.1% for the district and 49.6% for the state. The school's only relative strength is 5th grade science, which consistently outperforms its own ELA and math scores, though it still trails district and state averages.

One noteworthy positive: Pecan Park's chronic absenteeism rate of 26.7% is better than the district average of 30.1% and much lower than nearby low-performing schools like Clausell Elementary (43.8%), Wilkins Elementary (37.8%), and Johnson Elementary (37.4%). However, this has not translated into better academic outcomes. The most striking comparison is with Barack Obama Elementary, which also serves a 100% free/reduced-price lunch population but ranks 2nd in the state with 5th grade ELA proficiency of 92.1% and math proficiency of 89.5%. Ambition Preparatory Charter School, just 2.8 miles away, also significantly outperforms Pecan Park despite serving the same community. Pecan Park's ranking has declined steeply over the past seven years, falling from the 36th percentile in 2018-2019 to the 3rd percentile today. This data suggests that poverty alone doesn't explain the outcomes, and that higher achievement is possible in the same community.