Summary:
Zip code 38733 in Mississippi is served by a single elementary school: Hayes Cooper Center, a PK-6 campus in Merigold with 304 students and a 14.7:1 student-teacher ratio, operating within the Cleveland School District. The school ranks in the top third of Mississippi elementary schools, currently placing 120th out of 377 (68th percentile) with a 3-star rating, while its district ranks in the bottom third of districts statewide, making Hayes Cooper Center a clear high-performing outlier in its area.
The school's most impressive results appear in upper-grade mathematics. In 2025-2026, 5th grade math proficiency reached 78.8% (compared to the district's 35.7% and the state's 49.6%), and 6th grade math hit 82.8% versus the district's 61.0% and the state's 52.7%. Science results are also strong, with 5th grade science at 72.7%, essentially matching the state average while far exceeding the district's 57.8%. Hayes Cooper Center's statewide rank has steadily improved from the 63rd percentile in 2023-2024 to the 68th percentile in 2025-2026, and its unweighted grade-level averages in both ELA and math significantly outpace its district across most tested grades.
The main concern is a sharp 4th grade slump in 2025-2026: ELA proficiency fell from 61.3% to 42.1%, and math from 45.2% to 29.0%, with 4th grade math dropping below the district average and trailing the state by 22.5 points. A similar pattern appears in 6th grade ELA, which dropped from an exceptional 86.7% in 2024-2025 to 58.6% the following year. Notably, the school serves 100% free/reduced lunch students yet maintains a remarkably low chronic absenteeism rate of 7.0%, compared to the district's 22.7% and the state's 23.9%. Overall, Hayes Cooper Center delivers consistent top-third performance in a high-poverty, lower-performing district, with the 4th grade cohort as the key area to watch.
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