The top reported proficiency rate is 46% in Science. The lowest is 25% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Crystal Springs Middle School
Crystal Springs Middle School sits in a small bedroom community roughly a half-hour south of Jackson along Interstate 55. The town grew up around agriculture and the railroad, once billing itself as the Tomato Capital of the World, and still leans into that identity through its annual Tomato Festival and the Tomato Museum housed in the Chautauqua Park visitor center. The downtown core has historic buildings, antique shops, and churches, while the built environment is oriented around car travel given the town's location on the interstate and its role as a commuter base for people working in Jackson. Housing here is affordable relative to the state and well below national levels, with a typical home value that sits below the Mississippi benchmark and has drifted slightly downward over the past year. For a family buying locally, the price-to-income ratio is low, which matters in a community where the school serves a student body in which every child qualifies for free or reduced-price meals.
The school is part of the Copiah County School District and serves grades five through eight. Its enrollment is modest for a middle school, and the student body is predominantly Black or African American, with smaller Hispanic, White, and multiracial populations. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet. The state does not report graduation rates here, which is expected for a middle school and reflects the grade band rather than any gap in the school's record. Similarly, IEP and English-learner counts were not available in the data, so those populations cannot be characterized from what was provided.
On the most recent Mississippi Academic Assessment Program results, performance varies widely across grades and subjects. Science is the relative bright spot. Fifth-grade science proficiency sits above two-fifths of tested students, and eighth-grade science reaches roughly half. English language arts results are uneven. Fifth grade shows the strongest reading performance, with close to half of students scoring proficient or above, and eighth grade holds in the mid-range. Sixth grade sits lower, and seventh grade drops sharply to a level where only a small fraction of students reached proficiency. Mathematics follows a similar pattern. Sixth grade shows the best math result, fifth and eighth grade sit in the mid-twenties range, and seventh grade again falls to the bottom. Participation rates were not reported, so it is not possible to assess how completely the student body was tested. A parent looking at these results may want to ask the school what is happening in seventh grade specifically, and what supports are in place as students transition into and out of that year.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is unclear whether these results represent a new pattern or a longer-standing one. Staffing, discipline, course access, and attendance figures were not provided, which limits the picture of school climate and resources. Program offerings were not listed either, so families would need to inquire directly about electives, extracurriculars, and any intervention or acceleration options.
The broader district context carries weight here. In September 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice lifted a federal desegregation order that had governed the Copiah County School District for a long period. Reporting has documented that parents and community members still see disparities within the district, with Wesson Attendance Center described as majority-white with newer facilities and an A rating, while Crystal Springs schools are majority-Black with older buildings and fewer program offerings, carrying a B rating. District enrollment has been declining over several years, which affects per-pupil funding and the range of programs a district can sustain. These are structural realities that shape what a school like Crystal Springs Middle can offer, and they sit alongside the academic results rather than separate from them.
What the data describes is a small, predominantly Black middle school in an affordable, historically agricultural commuter town, with solid science results, variable reading and math performance that weakens noticeably in seventh grade, and a community context in which resource disparities within the district have been publicly reported. Families considering this school would benefit from asking about seventh-grade academic supports, available programs beyond the tested subjects, and how the district plans to address the facility and offering gaps that have been documented since the lifting of federal oversight.
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