Summary:
The city of Pettus, Texas, is served by the Pettus Independent School District (Isd), which operates two public schools—Pettus Elementary (Pre-K through 5th grade) and Pettus Secondary (6th through 12th grade)—serving a total of about 377 students in a small, rural community with a high level of economic disadvantage.
Pettus Secondary is the standout school in the district, showing a strong upward trend in its state ranking—jumping from the 74th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 80th percentile in 2024-2025. It excels in high school End-of-Course exams, significantly outperforming state averages in English I Reading (80.56% vs. 51.26%), English II Reading (72% vs. 56.22%), Algebra I (61.11% vs. 47.01%), and Biology (70.59% vs. 62.04%). The school also boasts a perfect 100% graduation rate and a 0% dropout rate. In contrast, Pettus Elementary is the weaker-performing school, with a declining state ranking (projected to drop to the 24th percentile) and test scores consistently below state averages, particularly in mathematics—only 22.58% of 4th graders were proficient in math compared to the state average of 45.79%.
A key finding is the dramatic academic turnaround at Pettus Secondary between middle and high school: 6th-grade math proficiency was 0%, yet those same students later achieved 61.11% proficiency in Algebra I. The district also spends significantly more per student at the secondary level ($17,609) than at the elementary level ($12,903), which likely contributes to the performance gap. Both schools maintain small class sizes (12-12.5:1 student-teacher ratios), but the district’s overall rank is pulled down by the elementary school’s struggles, masking the high school’s excellence. For parents, this means the high school program is exceptionally effective, while the elementary and middle school levels need improvement.
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