Summary:
ZIP code 38665 contains one high school: Strayhorn High School in Sarah, Mississippi, a rural school serving grades 7 through 12 with 404 students and a 14:1 student-teacher ratio. The school is part of the Tate County School District, which ranks 109th out of 134 districts statewide, and roughly 68% of Strayhorn students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Strayhorn's most alarming trend is its ranking collapse. After sitting at the 37th percentile statewide in 2023–2024 and the 40th percentile in 2024–2025, the school plunged to the 5th percentile in 2025–2026, ranking 212th out of 224 Mississippi high schools. Test scores fell sharply across nearly every subject, including English II proficiency dropping from 44.0% to 18.9% and 7th grade math falling from 47.2% to 34.4%. Chronic absenteeism is a major concern: 38.6% of students were chronically absent in 2023–2024, far above both the district (29.0%) and state (23.9%) rates. The graduation rate of 86.7% tops the district's 85.4% but trails the state's 89.2%.
Despite these struggles, there are bright spots. In 2025–2026, Strayhorn outperformed its district in 7th and 8th grade math and English Language Arts, and 8th grade math proficiency (44.4%) nearly matched the state average (51.4%). The school's best showing was in U.S. History in 2024–2025, where 66.7% of students scored proficient versus 69.7% statewide. However, English Language Arts remains a significant weakness across all grade levels, with gaps of roughly 20–30 points below state averages. For parents, this is a school where students can succeed in specific subjects, but one that urgently needs intervention around attendance and literacy to reverse its declining trajectory.
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