Vicksburg Junior High

Vicksburg Junior High is a middle school in Vicksburg, MS, serving 409 students in grades 7 and 8 as part of the Vicksburg Warren School District. The school consistently ranks in the bottom quarter of Mississippi middle schools, placing 189th out of 260 schools (27th percentile) with a 1-star rating in the most recent ranking. Every student at the school qualifies for free/reduced lunch, and chronic absenteeism is a serious concern — 37.5% of students were chronically absent in 2023-2024, about 1.6 times the state average of 23.9%.

Just 0.2 miles away, Warren Central Junior High serves the same grades with the same 100% poverty rate, yet it generally posts stronger results. Warren Central earned a 2-star rating and ranks 166th, while Vicksburg Junior High remains at 1 star. The biggest gap is in 7th grade math, where only 36.2% of Vicksburg students are proficient versus 50.8% at Warren Central and 57.7% statewide. Seventh grade ELA also lags at 25.3% compared to 35.3% at Warren Central. However, Vicksburg Junior High's 8th graders outpaced their nearby peers in both ELA (34.2% vs. 31.2%) and science (52.3% vs. 43.6%), showing the school can compete in several areas.

Math remains the school's most significant academic weakness, with proficiency rates swinging dramatically between years. But there are encouraging signs. Science proficiency jumped from 30.9% to 52.3% in a single year, nearly matching the state average, and the school's overall ranking has improved from the 8th percentile a decade ago to the 27th percentile today. With a favorable student-teacher ratio of 10.7, the school has resources to build on, but reducing chronic absenteeism — where roughly 2 in 5 students miss too many days — will be essential to making sustained progress.