The top reported proficiency rate is 67% in Science. The lowest is 52% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Vardaman High School
Vardaman High School, located in the small agricultural town of Vardaman in eastern Calhoun County, Mississippi, is now closed. That single fact frames everything else a parent might ask about this school. The state assessment results described here come from the most recent year on record, but they describe a school that is no longer operating. Any family considering this area would need to look at the current configuration of the Calhoun County School District, which was the parent district, to understand where students now attend.
During its last reported year, Vardaman High School served the upper grades of the Vardaman attendance zone. Publicly reported information indicates it covered grades seven through twelve, with Vardaman Elementary serving the younger grades. The academic data available covers only seventh and eighth grade state testing from the final reported school year, leaving the high school grades' performance largely undocumented in the records we have. No graduation rate, no ACT or SAT results, and no advanced-course or career-pathway data were available. Enrollment figures, demographic breakdowns, and free-or-reduced-price lunch counts were all missing from the records. This is a school with thin data even before accounting for its closure, and a parent would want to contact the Calhoun County School District directly for the current picture.
What the available testing does show is a mixed but generally solid middle-grade performance on the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program. In seventh grade math, roughly half the tested students reached proficiency or above, with the eighth grade math result landing somewhat higher, near three-fifths proficient. English language arts followed a similar pattern: seventh grade sat slightly above the halfway mark, while eighth grade landed right at it. Eighth grade science was the strongest result, with about two-thirds of tested students reaching proficiency. These are middle-of-the-road outcomes for a small rural Mississippi school, neither standout nor alarming. They describe a school that was moving a fair share of its middle-grade students to grade-level competency in the core subjects, with science a relative bright spot.
Vardaman itself is a very small town, publicly described as the "Sweet Potato Capital of the World." The Calhoun Economic Development Association characterizes it as mainly an agricultural community with excellent farmland surrounding the municipality. The population is racially diverse for a town of its size, with White, Hispanic or Latino, and Black or African American residents each forming substantial portions of the community. The town sits along Mississippi Highway 8, connecting it westward to Calhoun City and eastward to Houston. Day-to-day commercial activity is limited and largely tied to sweet potato farming and local services. The annual Sweet Potato Festival, held the first week of November, is the town's major civic event and brings large crowds relative to the resident population.
The housing market here is among the most affordable in the state. Typical home values sit far below both the Mississippi state benchmark and the national benchmark, and recent trends show a modest year-over-year decline rather than appreciation. For a family that owns income near national medians, the price-to-income ratio is quite low, meaning homeownership is relatively attainable. Rental data was not available. The town has invested in water and sewer infrastructure, including a new well and a lagoon treatment system with capacity for future growth, but no major housing developments or commercial expansion projects were identified.
Civic life centers on a youth recreation complex with softball and baseball fields, a walking track, a playground, and a Veterans Memorial. The Yalobusha River flows just south of town, and a lake offers fishing. No public library branch was specifically identified for Vardaman in publicly available sources. The school district itself is likely one of the area's larger public-sector employers, alongside the town's municipal operations.
Because Vardaman High School is closed, the most practical question for any parent is where students from this attendance zone now go. The Calhoun County School District would have that answer. The state testing record that remains tells a story of a small rural school with adequate middle-grade outcomes in its final year, but it is a record of something that no longer exists in the same form.
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