Summary:
Zip code 38850 contains a single school, Houlka Attendance Center, a PK-12 alternative attendance center in Houlka, Mississippi, serving 457 students as part of the Chickasaw County School District. Because there is only one school in the area, all comparisons are made against district and state averages rather than neighboring schools. The school serves a high-poverty community, with roughly 73% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, yet maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 10.4 to 1.
Houlka Attendance Center's strongest results appear in the middle grades. In 2025-2026, 6th grade ELA proficiency reached 72%, well above the district's 52.1% and the state's 48%. Similarly, 6th grade math proficiency was 64%, compared to the state average of 52.7%. One of the school's standout areas is 5th grade science, where 87.8% of students scored proficient versus the state's 71.5%. The school also saw strong Algebra I performance in 2024-2025 at 76.9% proficiency, and English II improved dramatically from 29.6% to 52.8% year over year. Chronic absenteeism was 21.0%, slightly lower than both the district (23.6%) and state (23.9%), which is notable given the school's high poverty rate.
However, the school faces real challenges. Early elementary results are a concern: only 35.1% of 3rd graders were proficient in ELA and just 24.3% in math, both well below state averages of 48.5% and 48.8%. The graduation rate of 82.4% trails the district (90.5%) and state (89.2%). Year-to-year test scores are also volatile—8th grade math dropped from 65.0% to 53.9%, while Algebra I fell from 76.9% to 63.6%. With only 457 students spread across 13 grade levels, individual cohorts are small, so a handful of students can cause large swings. Overall, Houlka Attendance Center shows clear strengths in the middle grades and science while needing attention in early literacy and math, graduation rates, and consistency across school years.
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