The top reported proficiency rate is 58% in Science. The lowest is 50% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Brooks Elem School
Brooks Elementary School sits in Duncan, a very small rural Mississippi Delta town in Bolivar County, roughly fifteen miles south of Clarksdale. The town is primarily residential with limited commercial activity, and publicly reported sources describe a community that has experienced steady population decline over several decades. No major employers were identified in available search results, and the town lacks documented parks, libraries, or public transit. Brooks Elementary itself serves as one of the town's civic anchors, alongside the municipal building on West Park Street North. The school is part of the North Bolivar Consolidated School District, which was formed through a merger of the former North Bolivar School District with the Mound Bayou Public School District. That consolidation, along with the district's subsequent closure of John F. Kennedy High School and Shelby Middle School, has reshaped feeder patterns, transportation, and community representation across the area. Secondary students from Duncan are zoned to Northside High School in Shelby, about ten miles north, since it is the only secondary school in the district.
Brooks Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Because it is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report. State assessment results from the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program, or MAAP, are available for grades three through six in math and English language arts, and for grade five in science. No participation rate data was reported for any grade or subject. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to describe whether these results represent improvement or decline over time.
The academic picture across tested grades is mixed and varies sharply by grade level. In math, grade four stands out as a clear strength, with nearly all tested students scoring proficient or above. Grade three math is also strong, with a solid majority reaching proficiency. But math proficiency drops considerably in grade five and falls further in grade six, where only a small portion of students demonstrated proficiency. English language arts follows a similar arc. Grade four ELA is a bright spot, with most students proficient. Grade three and grade five ELA show roughly half of tested students reaching proficiency. Grade six ELA is the weakest result, with only about a quarter of students proficient. Fifth-grade science sits in the middle, with a majority of students proficient. The pattern of strong fourth-grade results followed by a decline in upper grades is consistent across both tested subjects and is something a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly as students approach the transition to secondary education.
The school is small for its grade band, serving just under two hundred students across pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which is consistent with the town's publicly reported economic profile of low median household income and high poverty. The student body is almost entirely Black or African American, with a very small number of Hispanic students and students of two or more races. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not reported. Information on staffing, discipline, attendance, and course access was not available in the provided data. No program offerings, magnet status, or Title I status was reported.
No neighbor comparison data was provided for this school, and no county-level comparison fact-set was included, so it is not possible to position Brooks Elementary against nearby schools in Bolivar County from the available materials. Civil rights data was also absent. What the data does provide is a snapshot of a small, rural, high-poverty elementary school with genuinely strong results in the lower tested grades and a clear drop-off in proficiency as students move into fifth and sixth grade. For a family in Duncan, Brooks is the local elementary option, and the question worth asking the school directly is what happens between fourth grade and sixth grade that accounts for the shift in outcomes.
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