Best Public Schools in Zip Code 38868

Zip code 38868 in Shannon, Mississippi, contains four schools in the Lee County district — Shannon Primary School (PK–2), Shannon Elementary School (3–5), Shannon Middle School (6–8), and Shannon High School (9–12) — serving 1,225 students in a high-poverty community where about 83% qualify for free or reduced lunch. The Lee County district ranks 66th of 134 in Mississippi, placing it near the middle of the state.

Shannon Elementary School is the standout positive, with the lowest chronic absenteeism in the cluster (13.4%), an improving state rank, and the only above-state proficiency in the zip code: 84% of its 5th graders pass science versus 71.5% statewide. Shannon High School is the biggest concern, with a 67.2% graduation rate (state: 89.2%), 53.9% chronic absenteeism, and biology proficiency of just 27.5% versus 63.1% statewide. Shannon Middle School has slipped in state rank for three consecutive years, though it posted real gains in 6th- and 8th-grade math. Shannon Primary School serves PK–2 and has no test data, but it has the highest poverty rate (86.35%) while keeping absenteeism low at 16.0%.

The sharp rise in chronic absenteeism from 13–16% in the elementary schools to 37.6% at middle school and 53.9% at high school marks the transition to secondary school as the key point of disengagement. Math is a systemic weakness at every grade level: Shannon Elementary's 4th-grade math proficiency is just 19.8%, and Shannon Middle's 8th-grade math is 27.8%. None of this is due to crowded classrooms — student-teacher ratios range from 9.1 to 12.6 — which suggests poverty, attendance, and instructional capacity matter more than class size alone. Still, Shannon Elementary's science success and the middle school's recent math improvements prove that progress is achievable, and the clearest opportunity across the feeder pattern is to attack absenteeism before the secondary grades.