Summary:
ZIP code 39189 (Walnut Grove, MS) is served by two small, high-poverty schools in the Leake County School District: Leake County Elementary School (grades PK-6, 317 students) and Leake County High School (grades 7-12, 266 students).
Leake County Elementary School is the stronger of the two schools and shows real promise in the early grades. Its 3rd graders outperformed the state in both math (65.9% proficient vs. 48.8% statewide) and ELA (61% vs. 48.5%), and the school improved from a 1-star to a 2-star rating. However, this success fades dramatically by 5th grade, where math proficiency drops to just 25.7% versus the state's 49.6%. In contrast, Leake County High School shines in its graduation rate of 93.8%, well above the district (82.1%) and state (89.2%), and posted a standout 81.9% Algebra I proficiency rate in 2024-25, though that fell to 43.7% the following year. The high school also consistently outperforms the district in Biology, but its state ranking dropped sharply from the 44th percentile to the 16th percentile.
Both schools face significant challenges. Nearly all students qualify for free/reduced-price lunch, and chronic absenteeism is a major concern: 32.4% of high school students and 26.0% of elementary students are chronically absent, both above the state rate of 23.9%. On the positive side, both schools maintain small class sizes with student-teacher ratios around 12:1, and the elementary school's overall proficiency improved from 40.4% to 46.3% year over year. While the district ranks in the bottom 15% of Mississippi, these two schools demonstrate that strong early instruction and a commitment to graduating students can yield bright spots even under difficult circumstances.
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