Linwood School

Linwood School is a small, rural elementary school in Vaughan, Mississippi, serving 178 students in grades PK–5 as part of the Yazoo County School District. Nearly all of its students come from economically disadvantaged households, yet the school has shown genuine signs of recovery over the past few years, climbing from the bottom 5% of Mississippi elementary schools in 2022-23 to the top 40% in 2025-26 — its best showing in nearly a decade.

In the most recent state testing, Linwood School outperformed its district average in both English Language Arts (45.2% proficient vs. 42.8%) and math (42.3% vs. 38.5%), and it also beat Bentonia Gibbs School, its same-district peer, in most core subjects. A standout data point is 4th-grade math in 2024-25, where Linwood School posted 75.1% proficiency, nearly matching Mannsdale Upper Elementary, an elite Madison County school. However, that kind of success can be volatile at a school this size — the next year's 4th-grade math proficiency dropped to 38.5%, illustrating how a single strong or weak class can swing results. Science remains a weakness, with 5th-grade proficiency at 62.6%, below the district and state averages, though this is a dramatic improvement from 32% the prior year.

The biggest red flag at Linwood is chronic absenteeism. In 2023-24, 33.5% of students were chronically absent — far above the rates at nearby schools like Bentonia Gibbs School (20.8%), Reuben B. Myers Arts & Sciences (17.9%), and Mannsdale Upper Elementary (9.0%). This is a major improvement from the pandemic-era high of 42.2%, but still well above the pre-pandemic level of 12.1%. With small class sizes (13.3 students per teacher), dedicated instruction, and a recent upward trajectory, Linwood School is a school to watch — but getting students to school consistently will be key to sustaining its gains.