Summary:
Zip code 39090 (Kosciusko, Mississippi) is home to three elementary schools—Kosciusko Lower Elementary, Kosciusko Middle Elementary, and Kosciusko Upper Elementary—serving grades PK–5 within the Kosciusko School District, a 3-star district ranked 52nd out of 134 in Mississippi. All three are high-poverty schools with at least 84.5% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, yet they show very different strengths and challenges.
Kosciusko Upper Elementary is the clear academic standout. It improved its statewide rank from 171st to 134th over two years and now outperforms the state in 4th-grade math by 12.1 percentage points (63.6% vs. 51.5%) and in 5th-grade science by 2.7 points (74.2% vs. 71.5%). Meanwhile, Kosciusko Middle Elementary is a concern: its 3rd-grade math proficiency plummeted from 63.2% to 43.6% in one year, dropping from nearly 10 points above the state to more than 5 points below. Kosciusko Lower Elementary serves the largest enrollment (403 students) and posts the best attendance, with a 13.3% chronic absenteeism rate—far below the district’s 21.6% and the state’s 23.9%.
Chronic absenteeism varies widely across the three schools, from Lower Elementary’s excellent 13.3% to Middle Elementary’s 20.4%, a 7.1-point gap that may help explain uneven academics. Student–teacher ratios also invert expectations: the youngest students at Lower Elementary have the largest class sizes (17.7:1), while Upper Elementary enjoys the smallest (12.7:1). Despite sharing a district rating, these schools could hardly be more different—Upper is rising academically, Lower excels at attendance and engagement, and Middle shows vulnerability, especially in math. That contrast underscores how school-level strategies, not just poverty or district labels, drive outcomes.
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