Philadelphia Elementary School

Philadelphia Elementary School in Philadelphia, MS, serves 430 students in grades PK through 6 and is part of the Philadelphia Public School District, which currently ranks 104th out of 134 districts in Mississippi. The school serves an almost exclusively low-income population, with 100% of students qualifying for free/reduced lunch — the highest rate among nearby schools.

Academically, Philadelphia Elementary has struggled to move out of the bottom third of Mississippi elementary schools for the past decade. In the 2025–2026 school year, test scores were well below state averages in nearly every grade and subject, with gaps especially severe in 3rd and 4th grade math. The most striking comparison is geographic: Neshoba Central Elementary School, located just 1.45 miles away and serving the same community, achieves dramatically better results. Neshoba Central's math proficiency ranges from 67.8% to 73.5% across grades, while Philadelphia Elementary ranges from 23.3% to 48.6% — a gap of 25 to 40 percentage points. Neshoba Central belongs to Neshoba County Schools, ranked 3rd in the state, while Philadelphia's district sits near the bottom.

There are genuine bright spots. Fifth grade science proficiency has consistently exceeded the state average, reaching 75.5% in the most recent year, and 6th grade math and ELA scores are much closer to state averages, suggesting some students gain ground as they move through the grades. Chronic absenteeism has risen sharply from 5.4% before the pandemic to 21.4%, though it remains slightly below the state average. Interestingly, the school's student-teacher ratio of 13.3 is better than higher-performing nearby schools like Neshoba Central (16.3) and Union Elementary School (14.9), meaning class size alone does not explain the achievement gap. For parents, this is a school facing real challenges tied to poverty, but its science results and upper-grade performance show students are capable of success with the right supports.