Magee Elementary School

Magee Elementary School serves 525 students in grades K-5 in Magee, Mississippi, as part of the Simpson County School District. The school currently ranks in the 16th percentile of Mississippi elementary schools, earning 1 star and placing it below every nearby comparison school, including Hopewell Elementary School (45th percentile), New Hebron School (48th percentile), and Puckett Elementary (89th percentile).

Magee faces several urgent challenges. With 92% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, the school serves a high-poverty population, but poverty alone doesn't tell the whole story — Hopewell and New Hebron both serve higher-poverty student bodies yet outperform Magee in most subjects. The student-teacher ratio has risen sharply from 12.5 to 17.0 in just two years, the highest among all nearby schools, meaning less individualized attention for students who need it most. Chronic absenteeism is also a major concern, with 31.6% of students missing enough school to jeopardize learning — nearly triple the rate at Raleigh Elementary School (11.3%) and more than double the rate at Puckett (12.9%). Reading proficiency is the school's biggest academic weakness: only 26.7% of 4th graders are proficient in ELA, compared to 50.8% at Mendenhall Elementary School and 52.4% statewide.

Magee was a much stronger school before the pandemic, ranking in the 50th percentile with 3 stars in 2017-18. Since then, test scores have been extremely volatile from year to year, and the last two years represent the lowest performance period in available data. There is one relative bright spot: 5th grade science proficiency stands at 53.6%, which is above New Hebron's 47.8% and not far behind same-district Simpson Central School (56.3%). The contrast with nearby Puckett Elementary — just 14 miles away in Rankin County — shows what's possible with different resources and conditions, but it also highlights the magnitude of the challenge Magee faces in attendance, staffing, and early literacy.