Magee Middle School

Magee Middle School serves about 260 students in grades 6–8 in Magee, Mississippi, within the Simpson County School District. The school has a favorable student-teacher ratio of roughly 12 to 1, but nearly all students (94–99%) come from economically disadvantaged households, reflecting a very high-poverty community.

The school’s biggest challenge is chronic absenteeism: over 53% of students were chronically absent in the 2023–2024 school year, more than double the state rate of about 24% and up sharply from just 8% before the pandemic. This high rate of missed school is closely tied to low academic performance. Overall, Magee Middle School has ranked in the bottom quarter of Mississippi middle schools for years. English Language Arts proficiency is particularly low—ranging from about 24% to 32% across grades, well below state averages of 37–48%. Yet there is a notable bright spot: 58.5% of 7th graders scored proficient in math on the 2025–2026 MAAP, which is actually above the state average of 57.7%. That success stands out because 6th-grade math proficiency is only 25%, suggesting that the school can achieve strong results under the right conditions.

For parents, the picture is mixed. The school serves a resilient student body facing significant obstacles, especially poverty and attendance, and those factors clearly influence test scores. But the strong 7th-grade math results show that improvement is possible, and the school’s small class sizes offer an opportunity for more individualized attention. The path forward likely depends on aggressive attendance outreach, consistent literacy support across all grades, and figuring out what is working in 7th-grade math so it can be applied more broadly. While systemic challenges remain, there are real strengths to build on.