South Forrest Attendance Center, Brooklyn MS

Original Research by School Decision on South Forrest Attendance Center

South Forrest Attendance Center sits in Brooklyn, an unincorporated community in southern Forrest County along U.S. Route 49. The school serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade as part of the Forrest County School District. Brooklyn itself grew up as a railroad and lumber town along the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad, with pine mills driving its early economy. Today the community is small and rural, hemmed by De Soto National Forest, with Black Creek running nearby. There is no traditional downtown or commercial sidewalk grid. Homes, churches, and school facilities spread along local roads. The area has no public library or transit system in available sources. Churches and the post office serve as the main gathering points.

The school's enrollment is moderate for its grade band. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller representation from Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those figures are left out rather than estimated.

On Mississippi's MAAP assessments, South Forrest shows a pattern worth understanding grade by grade. In English language arts, proficiency rates are strongest in the early grades, with third and fifth graders performing particularly well. Results remain above midpoint through seventh grade before easing in eighth. In mathematics, results vary more widely across grades. Fourth grade sits lower than the other elementary grades, while seventh grade stands out as a clear strength, with most tested students reaching proficiency. Eighth grade math also lands above midpoint. Science results, available for fifth and eighth grades, show a strong fifth-grade proficiency rate and a solid eighth-grade result.

No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results are improving, declining, or holding steady over time. Participation rates were also missing from the state data set.

Because South Forrest serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. That metric simply does not apply to this school's grade band. Forrest County Agricultural High School, also located in Brooklyn and part of the same district, serves grades nine through twelve and is the nearby secondary option.

The housing market in Brooklyn is affordable by both state and national standards. Typical home values sit well below the Mississippi state benchmark and far below the national figure. The price-to-income ratio is low, suggesting that homeownership is within reach for many local families relative to broader national patterns. Rental data was not available. No major new housing developments or growth projects were identified in available sources, and the community has limited commercial employment nearby. Many residents likely commute toward Hattiesburg for work, given Brooklyn's place within the Hattiesburg metropolitan area.

The district brief turned up no parent-relevant changes from recent months, such as bond referendums, curriculum shifts, or facility updates. The search found only basic district profile information. Data on discipline practices, course access, staffing levels, and attendance was also not available for this school.

What the academic picture suggests is a school where English language arts instruction is producing consistent results across most grades, where science in the upper elementary years is a particular bright spot, and where math performance has some variability that a parent may want to look into further with the school. The seventh-grade math result is a genuine strength. The fourth-grade math result is the softest spot in the data. Without trend information, it is hard to know whether these reflect a stable pattern or a year-to-year fluctuation. A family considering South Forrest would do well to ask the school about its math curriculum sequence across the intermediate grades and about how students transition to high school just down the road.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 64% · ▼ 14 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 57% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 47% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 48% · ▲ 3 pts above district

even with state median

Grade 778%

School 78% · District 67% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 860%

School 60% · District 48% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 379%

School 79% · District 64% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 464%

School 64% · District 60% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 573%

School 73% · District 62% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 52% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

Grade 764%

School 64% · District 53% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median

Grade 857%

School 57% · District 51% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median

Science

Grade 583%

School 83% · District 66% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 862%

School 62% · District 60% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median

This schoolFORREST COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.