Summary:
Mendenhall High School is the only high school in ZIP code 39114, serving grades 7–12 with 646 students in the Simpson County School District, a district that ranks in the bottom 18th percentile of Mississippi districts. The school's state ranking has slipped from the 25th percentile in 2023–2024 to the 14th percentile in 2025–2026, earning a one-star rating. With 85.91% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, the school serves a notably high-poverty population.
Academically, Mendenhall's strongest performances come from end-of-course exams. In 2024–2025, U.S. History proficiency was 54.9%, Algebra I was 54.0%, and Biology was 50.0% — all above district averages but still below state averages. Middle-grade performance is much weaker. In 2025–2026, only 15.8% of 7th graders were proficient in English Language Arts and 19.7% proficient in math, compared with state averages of 36.7% and 57.7%. Year-over-year trends are mixed: 8th grade math improved sharply from 17.2% to 33.3% proficiency, while Algebra I dropped from 54.0% to 37.2%.
The most urgent concern is chronic absenteeism. Mendenhall's 53.0% chronic absenteeism rate is more than double the state average of 23.9% and well above the district's 41.0%. This likely undermines academic achievement, especially in the middle grades, and remains a red flag for long-term outcomes. Despite these challenges, the school's graduation rate stands at 88.1%, above the district's 84.1% and nearly matching the state's 89.2%. This suggests Mendenhall is successfully supporting many students through graduation even as academic proficiency lags well behind state averages.
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