New Site High School

New Site High School is a small, rural public high school in New Site, Mississippi, serving 239 students in grades 9–12 as part of the Prentiss County School District. Despite being one of the smallest high schools in the area, it is currently ranked 13th out of 224 Mississippi high schools, placing it in the 94th percentile with a 5-star rating. That ranking puts it well above every nearby high school, including Baldwyn High School at #35, Booneville High School at #62, Tishomingo County High School at #107, and Saltillo High School at #114. Over the past ten years, New Site has never fallen below the 85th percentile and has earned a 5-star rating seven times.

New Site's academic performance is particularly impressive in English and science. On the 2025–2026 state exams, 70.9% of students scored proficient in English II, compared to 49.3% statewide, and 90.9% were proficient in Biology, nearly 28 points above the state average. The school also leads nearby schools in these subjects by wide margins. Algebra I proficiency was 78.4%, above the state average of 66.0%, though slightly behind Tishomingo County High School's 81.3%. This consistency is notable — while neighboring schools like Baldwyn and Booneville have seen big swings in their rankings from year to year, New Site has remained near the top.

The school achieves these results while serving a student body where roughly 68% are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch — a higher poverty rate than most nearby schools. Its small size may help: with a student-teacher ratio of 10.2, students get more individualized attention than at Saltillo (13.9) or Booneville (13.9). Chronic absenteeism is also lower than most neighbors at 19.6%. One area to watch is the graduation rate, which has fluctuated between 77% and 92% in recent years and was 88.2% in 2024–2025, just below the state average. Still, New Site consistently outperforms its own district averages and stands out as one of Mississippi's top-performing rural high schools.