B F Liddell Middle

B F Liddell Middle in Macon, MS, serves 305 students in grades 6–8 and is part of the Noxubee County School District. The school serves a high-poverty community, with 100% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. In the most recent state ranking, it placed 250th out of 260 Mississippi middle schools, putting it in the bottom 4% statewide.

Academic performance in core subjects is well below state averages. Only 16% of 7th graders and 19% of 8th graders were proficient in English Language Arts in 2025–2026, compared with 36.7% and 40.9% statewide. Math proficiency was similarly low, with 26% of 7th graders and 21% of 8th graders proficient versus 57.7% and 51.4% statewide. Science scores have been inconsistent, dropping from 32.9% proficiency to as low as 11.2% in recent years. The one clear bright spot is Algebra I End-of-Course performance, which reached 88.9% proficiency in 2025–2026, far surpassing the 66.0% state average. Since this course is typically taken by accelerated students, the results likely reflect a select group rather than the entire grade.

Chronic absenteeism has varied year to year, ranging from a low of 15.3% in 2022–2023 to a high of 26.8% in 2023–2024, and the school has consistently had lower absenteeism than the district average. On a positive structural note, the student–teacher ratio is a relatively low 13.7, meaning smaller class sizes. Test scores have also been volatile, with large swings in both reading and math from year to year, making it hard to identify a clear trend. Overall, B F Liddell Middle faces significant challenges common to high-poverty schools, but its strong Algebra I results suggest that targeted math instruction can produce meaningful success for students.