Original Research by School Decision on Sr1 College Prep & Stem Academy
SR1 College Prep and STEM Academy is a very young charter district in Canton, Mississippi, opened in the fall of its inaugural year as what is publicly reported to be the state's first and only public STEM charter school. It was founded as a tuition-free, college-preparatory option with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and it was designed to grow over time. The district launched with kindergarten and first grade and has stated plans to expand through fifth grade. Public records indicate it has since added a second grade, which is consistent with that growth plan.
This is an early-grades institution, and that shapes what data is and is not available. There are no state assessment results to report. Mississippi tests students beginning in third grade, so a school serving only kindergarten and the early primary years would not yet generate proficiency or attainment data. There is no graduation rate, for the obvious reason that the district does not serve high school grades. A parent looking at this school should understand that the absence of test scores and graduation outcomes reflects the age of the students and the school itself, not any gap in performance.
The enrollment is tiny, which is expected for a brand-new charter school in its first year of operation. The student body is almost entirely Black, with a small number of white students and no other racial or ethnic groups represented in the reported data. No free-or-reduced-price lunch information, special education counts, or English learner figures were available, so those dimensions of the school's population cannot be characterized here. A parent who depends on knowing the socioeconomic mix or the level of specialized support services would want to ask the school directly.
The school's identity is built around its STEM and college-prep mission. For families in Canton who want an alternative to the traditional public school path and who are drawn to an early focus on science and mathematics, this is the central appeal. It is a public charter, meaning it is tuition-free and open to all, but it is also a new organization still in the process of establishing itself. The curriculum, staffing structure, and day-to-day culture are still being formed as the school adds grades and students each year.
There is no locale brief or community economic context provided for Canton in the data, so this narrative cannot speak to housing values, rental costs, or broader demographic trends in the surrounding area. There is also no civil rights data, no discipline or course access information, and no staffing figures. The comparison fact-set that would position this district among its neighbors was not available. All of this is consistent with a school that has only recently opened and has not yet accumulated the full reporting profile of an established district.
What a parent can take from this is a picture of a small, mission-driven charter school in its earliest stage. The STEM focus and college-preparatory framing are the defining features. The school serves very young children and will grow one grade at a time. Academic outcomes are not yet measurable through state channels, and much of the operational and community data that would round out the picture is still absent. Families considering SR1 should treat it as an evolving option, one worth visiting and questioning directly about class size as it expands, teacher qualifications, and how the STEM theme is delivered to five- and six-year-olds in practice.
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