The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in Science. The lowest is 21% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Leflore Legacy Academy
Leflore Legacy Academy is a charter middle school serving grades six through eight in Greenwood, Mississippi, a small city at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta. It operates as its own charter district rather than falling under the consolidated Greenwood Leflore school system that runs the city's traditional public schools. The school sits on Washington Street, close to downtown Greenwood, in a community where agriculture and agribusiness anchor the local economy alongside manufacturing, healthcare, and tourism. Housing here is quite affordable relative to both state and national benchmarks, which matters for families relocating into the area or renting near the campus.
The student body is small for a middle school, with enrollment distributed across the three grade levels. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a category where economic disadvantage is the norm rather than the exception. The population is predominantly Black, with a smaller Hispanic presence and very few students from other racial backgrounds. Data on students receiving special education services and English learners was not reported, so those breakdowns are not available here. A parent with questions about disability services or language support would want to contact the school directly.
State assessment results from the most recent school year show a mixed but evolving picture. In math, proficiency rises notably from sixth grade to seventh before dipping in eighth, with the seventh-grade cohort standing out as the strongest. ELA proficiency is more consistent across the three grades but sits lower than the math results in the upper grades. Eighth-grade science proficiency is the school's brightest spot, with a larger share of students reaching proficiency than in any other subject or grade. Across the board, though, these proficiency rates are modest, and a parent may want to look into how the school plans to build on recent gains and what classroom supports are in place for students working below grade level.
The school's own publicly reported materials describe a situation in which a substantial portion of arriving students are performing below grade level, and the school reports that proficiency in math and science more than doubled over a recent one-year span. That trajectory, if sustained, would be meaningful for families considering the school, though the current assessment snapshot suggests there is still considerable distance to cover before proficiency is broadly strong.
Greenwood itself carries a distinct character. The city has a historic downtown with preserved commercial architecture from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a neoclassical courthouse, and a Carnegie Library. Grand Boulevard, lined with mature oak trees, has been recognized as one of America's most beautiful streets. Mississippi Blues Trail markers dot the downtown, including the site where B.B. King made his first radio broadcast. The city has seen a wave of building renovations bringing shops, dining, galleries, and a boutique hotel to the core, while the surrounding area retains its Delta identity. Amtrak connects Greenwood to New Orleans and Chicago, and US highways 82 and 49 pass through. Parks, tennis and pickleball facilities, a public pool, and civic landmarks such as the Emmett Till statue at Rail Spike Park round out the community fabric. The local economy draws on catfish processing, kitchen appliance manufacturing, tool production, and cotton marketing, among other sectors.
Data on program offerings, course access, staffing, discipline, attendance, and civil-rights indicators was not available for this school, so those dimensions of the experience could not be assessed here. The same is true for neighborhood-level comparisons and multi-year trend detail beyond what the school has self-reported. A family weighing Leflore Legacy Academy would benefit from visiting the campus and asking about instructional approach, extracurricular options, and the supports serving students who arrive below grade level. The school's reported recent growth in proficiency suggests an institution working from a challenging starting point, and the current scores indicate that work is still in progress.
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