Northeast Middle School

Northeast Middle School is a public school in Meridian, Mississippi, serving 520 students in grades 5–8 as part of the Lauderdale County School District. The school sits in the middle of the pack among nearby middle schools: it substantially outperforms Meridian Public Schools options like Magnolia Middle School and Northwest Middle School, but trails its same-district counterparts by a wide margin.

In 2025–2026, Northeast ranked 125th of 260 Mississippi middle schools, earning a 3-star rating and 52nd-percentile placement—an improvement from 164th two years earlier. Average proficiency across state tests lands at roughly 45%, compared with about 68% at West Lauderdale Middle School and 62% at Southeast Middle School, while Magnolia Middle School and Northwest Middle School sit around 28% and 32% respectively. Notably, Northeast's math scores improve steadily by grade level: 5th graders post just 23.6% proficiency, but 8th graders reach 54.3%, above the state average. Eighth-grade science also exceeds the state average. However, the school's ELA proficiency (about 40%) remains weak, especially in 7th and 8th grades, and the math gap with higher-performing peers is larger than the reading gap.

The school's biggest challenge is attendance. Chronic absenteeism reached 34.2% in 2023–2024, well above the state average of 23.9% and higher than both Southeast Middle School (27.4%) and West Lauderdale Middle School (25.2%). This matters because Northeast serves a very similar poverty level (71.5% free/reduced lunch) to Southeast Middle School (71.2%), yet Southeast posts far stronger results—suggesting attendance is a key lever for improvement. On the positive side, Northeast has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 11.9, the lowest among nearby schools, and its statewide ranking has improved for three consecutive years. With continued focus on attendance, early-grade math, and reading, Northeast appears to be moving in the right direction.