The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in Science. The lowest is 31% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Stokes Beard Elementary School
Stokes Beard Elementary School sits on Martin Luther King Drive in Columbus, Mississippi, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Columbus Municipal School District. It is a neighborhood elementary school in a city that functions as the county seat of Lowndes County and anchors one corner of the Golden Triangle region, alongside West Point and Starkville. Columbus carries a layered identity: a historic town with antebellum architecture across several National Register districts, a trade center for the surrounding agricultural region, and a manufacturing and defense hub anchored by Columbus Air Force Base. The base is one of only four basic Air Force flight training installations in the country. The local economy also draws on aerospace and defense contractors, paper and steel manufacturing, healthcare, and Mississippi University for Women. Against that backdrop, Stokes Beard operates in a community where institutional and military employers coexist with modest household wealth and declining property values.
The school's enrollment is small for a campus covering seven grade levels. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which places the school firmly in the category of high-poverty education. The student body is almost entirely Black, with a very small number of children identifying as white, multiracial, or Hispanic. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available in the provided records, so those figures cannot be characterized here.
On the most recent Mississippi Academic Assessment Program results, proficiency patterns shift noticeably by grade. Third grade is the clearest area of concern, with fewer than a fifth of tested students reaching proficiency in math and a smaller share still in English language arts. Fourth grade shows a marked step up in both subjects, with roughly two-fifths proficient in math and about a third in ELA. Fifth grade produces the school's strongest reading result, with close to half of tested students proficient, along with a moderate showing in math and science. The overall picture is one where younger students are struggling to reach grade-level benchmarks while upper-elementary performance is meaningfully stronger, particularly in reading. A parent considering Stokes Beard for an early-grade child may want to look into how the school supports foundational literacy and numeracy in the primary grades.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability over time. Participation rate figures were also missing from the dataset. Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate or college-readiness data to report.
Information on staffing, discipline, attendance, course access, and specific programs was not provided. The school's Title I status, magnet status, and school type were listed as unknown or absent. Parents seeking detail on teacher experience, class sizes, extracurricular offerings, or behavioral climate would need to contact the school directly, as the available data does not speak to those dimensions.
The housing market surrounding Stokes Beard reflects the broader economic context of Columbus. Home values in the school's zip code sit well below both the Mississippi state benchmark and the national median, and recent year-over-year movement has been downward. Rent is modest by national standards, and the estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home remains close to local rent levels, making ownership accessible for working families even with elevated interest rates. Columbus itself has seen a slight population decline over recent decades, with stability driven in part by the Air Force base and the university rather than by rapid residential growth. No major new housing developments were identified in the available research.
The district brief turned up no recently reported parent-relevant changes within Columbus Municipal School District, so there is little to relay about new programs, leadership transitions, or facility investments from the district level.
What emerges is a small, high-poverty elementary school in an historic Mississippi town with a diverse employment base but limited household wealth. Its upper-grade reading results are a relative bright spot, while its early-grade proficiency is a soft spot that warrants direct inquiry. Families whose priorities include a close-knit, community-based elementary setting, and who are comfortable engaging with the school about academic support in the primary years, may find it worth a closer look.
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