Summary:
Zip code 39145 is home to a single elementary school, Pelahatchie Elementary, which serves grades PK-6 with an enrollment of 385 students. The school is part of the Rankin County School District, a strong district ranked 25th out of 134 districts in Mississippi, and because there is only one elementary school in the zip code, the most meaningful comparisons are against district and state averages.
Pelahatchie Elementary has improved its state ranking from 181st in 2023-24 to 149th in 2025-26 out of roughly 380 Mississippi elementary schools, moving from the 54th to 60th percentile. Math is the school's strongest subject, exceeding state proficiency averages in grades 4, 5, and 6. In 2025-26, 5th grade math was 57.4% vs. the state's 49.6%, and 6th grade math was 55.3% vs. 52.7%. Fifth grade science is especially notable at 79.7% proficient, 8.2 points above the state average. ELA performance is more mixed: 5th grade ELA jumped sharply from 34.1% to 62.9%, while 3rd grade ELA fell from 58.3% to 44.6% year over year. Overall, the school trails the Rankin County School District averages by roughly 15 points in both ELA and math despite the district's strong performance.
The school operates in a high-poverty context, with 70.65% of students receiving free or reduced lunch. Despite this, it performs near or above state averages in math and science. Chronic absenteeism is 22.1%, which is better than the state average of 23.9% but considerably worse than the district average of 13.7%. With a favorable student-teacher ratio of 12.5, Pelahatchie Elementary has clear strengths in STEM subjects, a steadily improving ranking, and a challenge ahead in closing the gap with its high-performing district while addressing absenteeism.
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