Summary:
Zip code 39189 is served by a single elementary school, Leake County Elementary School, which enrolls 317 students in grades PK through 6 in the Walnut Grove area. This school is part of the Leake County School District, a district that ranks in the 15th percentile statewide, yet the school itself performs far better, ranking in the 40th percentile and earning 2 stars for the 2025–2026 school year.
Leake County Elementary is a high-poverty school where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, but it still manages to outperform its district in nearly every subject and grade. In 2025–2026, the school’s average proficiency was 46.3% compared to the district’s 36.9%, though it still trails the state average of 53.2%. The standout area is 3rd grade, where math proficiency reached 65.9% and ELA reached 61.0%, both well above state averages. The school also showed impressive year-over-year gains, including a 20.5-point jump in 3rd grade ELA and a 22.4-point jump in 5th grade science. The student-teacher ratio is a favorable 12.1 to 1, and the school has shown recent improvement in its statewide ranking, moving from the 28th percentile in 2024–2025 to the 40th percentile in 2025–2026.
The main concerns are in upper-elementary math and science. In 5th grade, math proficiency was just 25.7%, which is 23.9 points below the state average and is the only grade and subject where the school scored below its own district. 6th grade math also lags by 14.1 points. Chronic absenteeism is slightly elevated at 26.0%, affecting about 1 in 4 students, which likely contributes to these challenges. While the school has made strong recent gains and shows real strength in early grades, the most pressing priorities should be improving 5th and 6th grade math, maintaining the momentum in 3rd grade, and reducing chronic absenteeism to help all students succeed.
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