Summary:
Zip code 38801 is home to just one middle school — Tupelo Middle School — which serves 7th and 8th graders in the Tupelo Public School District, enrolling 1,070 students with a 67% free/reduced lunch rate and a favorable 13.9 student-teacher ratio. As the only middle school in the area, it is by default the standout, and it presents a mixed profile: it beats Mississippi state averages in every tested subject, yet its overall state ranking has slipped from the 81st percentile in 2023-2024 to the 69th percentile in 2025-2026.
Academically, the biggest bright spot is Algebra I, where 98.8% of students scored proficient or better in 2025-26 compared to just 66.0% statewide — and a perfect 100% the prior year. In 7th-grade math, 65.1% are proficient versus 57.7% statewide, but 8th-grade math proficiency is only 52.3%, barely above the state average of 51.4% and down sharply from 59.7% the year before. English language arts results are more modest, with 39.4% of 7th graders and 46.2% of 8th graders proficient, though both still top the state. The school's most concerning metric is chronic absenteeism: 36.3% of students are chronically absent, far above the district's 29.3% and the state's 23.9%.
That absenteeism problem helps explain why proficiency declined in nearly every subject from 2024-25 to 2025-26 and why the school's rank has fallen three straight years. Still, Tupelo Middle remains a relative bright spot within a district ranked 59th out of 134 in Mississippi, and it continues to overcome economic challenges to outperform state averages across the board. With targeted attendance interventions and extra support in 8th-grade math, this school has clear potential to reverse its recent slide and build on its exceptional Algebra I success.
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