Best High Schools in Zip Code 38916

Zip code 38916 contains one high school, Calhoun City High School, which serves grades 5 through 12 in the Calhoun County School District in Mississippi, an area where a large majority of students come from low-income families. This school is the only option in the zip code, so the overall picture is centered entirely on its performance and recent trajectory.

Calhoun City High School has shown remarkable improvement over the past year. In 2024–2025, it ranked in the 16th percentile among Mississippi high schools, but by 2025–2026 it jumped to the 43rd percentile and earned a second star in the state accountability system. That dramatic rise was driven largely by strong gains in math across every grade level, from 5th through 8th grade, as well as a big jump in English II proficiency. The school also has genuine strengths in Algebra I and middle school science, with 8th grade science exceeding the state average in the most recent year. However, the school still trails the district and state averages in most English Language Arts subjects, and overall proficiency across all tested subjects remains below the state average.

Parents should also be aware of some challenges. The graduation rate is 86.3%, slightly below the district (89.4%) and state (89.2%). Chronic absenteeism is a red flag: more than one in four students (25.3%) were chronically absent in 2023–2024, well above the district average of 15.8%. This is especially important because attendance strongly affects learning. The school does benefit from a favorable 10:1 student–teacher ratio, but poverty and absenteeism still outweigh that advantage. While Biology proficiency declined sharply from the previous year, the overall direction is positive, and the school’s rapid improvement suggests that focused efforts on attendance and literacy could help sustain momentum.