The top reported proficiency rate is 64% in Science. The lowest is 36% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Durant Elementary School
Durant ElementarySchool sits on West Madison Street in Durant, a small, largely rural town in eastern Holmes County, Mississippi. The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and is part of the Holmes County Consolidated School District, a district formed when the former Durant Public School District merged with the county system. That consolidation, publicly reported as a state-mandated move, also sent Durant's high school students to Holmes County Central near Lexington, the county seat. For families here, the elementary school is the remaining neighborhood anchor, the place where the youngest children stay close to home before heading to consolidated campuses elsewhere in the county.
Durant itself is a quiet, agricultural community. Publicly reported sources describe a town that grew around a railroad depot and has seen its population decline steadily over several decades. The historic brick depot is being restored as part of local heritage tourism efforts, and Interstate 55 connects to the area via a nearby interchange. No major employers were identified in available sources, and the town has limited commercial activity. The housing market reflects this context. Home values in the Durant zip code sit far below both the Mississippi state benchmark and the national one, and recent data shows a pronounced year-over-year decline. For families looking to buy, that means affordability relative to income is favorable, but it also signals a soft local market with limited appreciation. Rental data was not available.
The school's enrollment is small for its grade band. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school squarely in a high-poverty context. The student body is almost entirely Black, with only a handful of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not reported, so those populations cannot be characterized here.
On Mississippi's MAAP assessments for the most recent school year, the academic picture is mixed and shifts notably by grade. Third grade math stands out as a relative strength, with a solid majority of tested students reaching proficiency. Fourth grade math drops to about half proficient. Fifth grade math falls sharply, with only a small share meeting the bar. A parent may want to look into what is happening between fourth and fifth grade math instruction, as that slide is the most striking pattern in the school's results.
English language arts tells a more consistent but lower story. Across third, fourth, and fifth grades, roughly a third to two-fifths of students demonstrate proficiency. There is no sharp decline, but there is also no clear upward movement as students progress. Fifth grade science is the school's strongest single result, with a clear majority of tested students proficient, which suggests that hands-on or content-based learning may be landing well even as math and reading outcomes stay modest.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results are improving, stable, or declining over time. Participation rates for the assessments were also not reported. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, which is expected for an elementary school.
Beyond test scores, the available data is thin. No information was provided on staffing ratios, course access, discipline, attendance, or specific programs. The school is not a charter and is not designated as a magnet. Title I status was not reported, though a school where every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch would typically qualify. A parent weighing this school would be looking at a small, community-rooted elementary serving a high-poverty student body in a quiet rural town, with some genuine bright spots in early math and fifth grade science, alongside clear struggles in upper-elementary math and flat reading results. Asking the school directly about fifth grade math support and what enrichment or intervention structures exist would be a reasonable next step.
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