The top reported proficiency rate is 70% in Science. The lowest is 41% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Leakesville Jr High School
Leakesville Junior High School sits in a small, rural Mississippi county seat along the Chickasawhay River, serving grades five through eight as part of the Greene County School District. The town of Leakesville describes itself as a place of small-town living and Southern hospitality, positioned at the junction of state highways 57 and 63. Its character is primarily residential and civic, with limited commercial activity. The dominant employer in the area is the South Mississippi Correctional Institution, a state prison facility in unincorporated Greene County whose annexation caused the town's census population to surge before the 2020 count. The school district and county government offices also provide local employment. Since that annexation, the town's population has edged downward. No public transit, walkability data, or information on parks and libraries surfaced in available sources.
The school's enrollment is modest for its grade band, with students spread fairly evenly across the four grades it serves. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which means the entire student body meets the income threshold the federal government uses to gauge economic need. The student population is predominantly white, with a Black enrollment that makes up a meaningful minority, and very small representation from other racial and ethnic groups. Data on special education enrollment and English learners was not reported, so those populations cannot be characterized here. The school is neither a charter nor a magnet campus.
On Mississippi's MAAP assessments for the most recent school year, the results paint a mixed but in some places encouraging picture. Science stands out as a clear strength. Fifth-grade science proficiency is high, and eighth-grade science is also strong, suggesting the school is doing well by its students in that subject. English language arts results are moderate across the board, with eighth grade being the strongest and seventh grade the weakest, but the variation from grade to grade is not extreme.
Mathematics tells a more complicated story. Seventh-grade math proficiency is quite strong, the highest in that subject. But fifth-grade and eighth-grade math proficiency drop considerably, with both landing at the lower end. This kind of inconsistency from one grade to the next can reflect differences in cohorts, curriculum transitions, or the difficulty of particular grade-level content. A parent whose child is entering fifth or heading into eighth may want to ask the school how it supports math instruction at those transition points and what interventions are available for students who arrive below grade level.
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 rates were also not reported, though the tested counts appear consistent with the school's enrollment.
Because the school stops at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate, no AP or dual-credit data, and no college-readiness measure to report. Those metrics belong to the high school level and do not apply here. Information on course offerings, extracurricular programs, discipline practices, staffing ratios, and attendance was not available in the data provided, so those dimensions of school life cannot be addressed.
The housing market around Leakesville is affordable relative to both state and national benchmarks, with typical home values well below the Mississippi statewide figure and far below the national one. Recent year-over-year home value growth has been strong, which may reflect limited supply in a low-density rural market rather than intense demand. Mortgage costs at current rates are manageable relative to national median household income, and the price-to-income ratio is low. Rental data was not available. For a family considering a move to the area, housing costs would likely be among the more affordable in the state, though the tradeoff is a rural setting with limited amenities and commercial activity nearby.
We looked for recent district-level changes such as curriculum updates, bond measures, or property-tax shifts that might affect families, and none surfaced. The Greene County School District operates three schools in Leakesville: the elementary school, this junior high, and Greene County High School. The search did not turn up strategic priorities or program expansions that a parent might want to weigh.
What emerges from the available data is a small rural middle school where science instruction appears to be working well, ELA results are middling, and math performance swings sharply by grade. The economic context is one of widespread need, with every student qualifying for lunch assistance. The surrounding community is quiet, affordable, and rooted in county-seat civic life, with a state prison as its largest employer. For a family already in or drawn to this area, the school's science results and seventh-grade math performance are genuinely encouraging. The weaker math results at the bookend grades are the place where questions to the school would be most useful before enrolling.
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