Summary:
Zip code 38748 is home to a single high school: Simmons High School in Hollandale, Mississippi, which serves 172 students in grades 9 through 12 and is part of the Hollandale School District. Every student at this school qualifies for free or reduced lunch, reflecting a deeply high-poverty community, yet the school maintains a graduation rate of 91.7% — above the state's 89.2% — and a chronic absenteeism rate of 20.4%, which is lower than the Mississippi average of 23.9%. The student-teacher ratio is a notably low 10.6:1, suggesting students may benefit from more individualized attention despite the challenging circumstances.
Academically, Simmons presents a mixed profile with clear strengths in some subjects and significant struggles in others. In Algebra I, the school has exceeded the state average in both recent testing windows, posting 72.3% proficiency in 2024–2025 and 68.0% in 2025–2026. U.S. History proficiency was also above the state average at 72.4% versus 69.7%, and Biology matched the state at 62.0% in 2024–2025. However, English II proficiency is a major concern: only 27.7% of students were proficient in 2025–2026 compared to the state's 49.3%, roughly half the state rate. This consistent gap in literacy is the most pressing academic challenge the school faces.
The school's state ranking has been quite volatile, moving from the 39th percentile in 2023–2024, down to the 19th percentile in 2024–2025, and rebounding to the 35th percentile in 2025–2026. Since Simmons is the only high school in the Hollandale district, school and district results are always identical, meaning the district's 1-star rating is entirely driven by this one school. For parents, the bottom line is that Simmons offers strong math and history instruction, a good graduation rate, and low absenteeism in a high-poverty setting, but literacy intervention in English will be critical to improving student outcomes and stabilizing the school's ranking.
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