The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in Science. The lowest is 21% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Clarksdale Collegiate
ClarksdaleCollegiate is a public charter school in Clarksdale, Mississippi, serving students from kindergarten through the middle grades. It sits on West Second Street in a city that is the county seat of Coahoma County and a historic agricultural trading center in the Mississippi Delta. The school recently completed a planned grade-span expansion, having grown one grade per year since opening with only the early elementary grades. Publicly reported information indicates it now spans the full kindergarten-through-eighth-grade range, which gives Clarksdale families a single charter option covering those years.
The school serves a student body that is almost entirely Black, with small numbers of Hispanic, white, and multiracial students. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the economic conditions of the surrounding community. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the records we reviewed, so we cannot characterize those populations. The school is small for its grade span, with roughly one class section per grade, and class sizes are consistent across the grades tested.
On Mississippi's state assessments, the most recent results show a school whose English language arts performance is modestly stronger and more consistent than its math results. In ELA, proficiency holds fairly steady from third grade through sixth grade, dips somewhat in seventh, and recovers in eighth. The pattern suggests the school is producing comparable reading outcomes across grade levels rather than a sharp climb or decline. In math, the picture is more uneven. Proficiency is low in the elementary grades, drops to its weakest point in fifth grade, then rises sharply in seventh grade to the school's strongest math result before settling back in eighth grade. The seventh-grade math stand-out is the clearest bright spot in the data, though whether it reflects a cohort effect or something instructional is something a parent may want to look into further with the school. Science results, available only for fifth and eighth grades, land in a moderate range, with the eighth-grade science proficiency running above the school's typical math performance.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and no AP, dual-credit, or career pathway data applies to this grade band. No course access, staffing, discipline, or attendance information was available in the data we received, and no multi-year trend data was provided, so we cannot speak to whether performance is improving or declining over time. No comparison fact-set was available to position the school against neighboring districts or charter schools in the county.
Clarksdale itself is a place of contrasts. The city has experienced long-term population decline but has seen a modest revival tied to blues music heritage tourism. Publicly reported coverage notes that CNN named Clarksdale one of America's best towns to visit, citing transplants and music tourism fueling new downtown activity. Live music is now available seven nights a week, and festivals like the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival and the Juke Joint Festival bring seasonal economic energy. The Delta Blues Museum, housed in a renovated railroad depot, and the Carnegie Public Library serve as civic anchors. Coahoma Community College, a historically Black college, sits on a separate campus north of the city. The broader community is low-density and car-dependent, with highways connecting it to Memphis about an hour away.
Housing in the school's zip code is very inexpensive relative to both state and national benchmarks, and recent data shows a year-over-year decline in home values. This is a market where homeownership costs are low, but the declining values point to limited demand and the broader economic pressures the Delta region faces. Rental data was not available.
For a parent weighing Clarksdale Collegiate, the school offers a charter alternative in a community where educational options have historically been limited. Its ELA results are the more reassuring part of its academic profile, showing steady if modest performance across grades. Its math results are the softer area, with most grades showing low proficiency and only the seventh-grade cohort standing out. The school's universal free-lunch eligibility and near-uniform racial composition are characteristics that fit the community it serves. Families looking for a small, growing charter school with a K-through-8 pathway may find it worth a visit, particularly to ask about the math program and what drives the variation across grades.
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