Summary:
Zip code 38921 contains one high school, Charleston High School, serving grades 9–12 in the East Tallahatchie School District of Mississippi. The school is the only high school in the area, with 273 students and nearly all students (98.9%) qualifying for free or reduced lunch, indicating a high-poverty community.
Charleston High School has shown dramatic academic improvement in a short period. In the most recent year, Algebra I proficiency reached 91.8%, far exceeding the state average of 66%, while Biology proficiency jumped from 18.8% to 60%, nearly closing the gap with the state. This helped the school's state ranking rise from the 5th percentile (0 stars) in 2024–2025 to the 50th percentile (3 stars) in 2025–2026. The student-teacher ratio is a favorable 13.7:1, and the graduation rate is 88.3%, close to the state's 89.2%, despite the school's high-poverty population.
However, major challenges remain. English II proficiency is only 27.3%, well below the state average of 49.3%, and chronic absenteeism is very high at 47.6%—double the state rate—which likely hampers learning in cumulative subjects. Despite these obstacles, the school's rapid gains in math and science are noteworthy. Its ability to sustain this progress while serving an economically disadvantaged student body will determine whether this becomes a lasting transformation or a short-term boost.
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