The top reported proficiency rate is 74% in Science. The lowest is 43% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Pass Road Elementary School
Pass Road Elementary School sits on Pass Road in Gulfport, Mississippi, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Gulfport School District. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet, and it draws from a coastal city where military operations, tourism, healthcare, and maritime commerce anchor the local economy. The enrollment is moderate for an elementary school serving this grade band, and the student body is predominantly Black, with smaller Hispanic and white populations and a few students of other backgrounds. Nearly every student at the school qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the economic reality of the surrounding neighborhood rather than any judgment about the families who choose this school.
On Mississippi's MAAP assessments from the most recent school year, Pass Road's results tell a clear story: reading is the school's stronger suit, while math lags behind. In English language arts, a majority of third graders scored proficient or above, and that share held steady through fourth grade before jumping sharply in fifth grade to a level that stands out as a genuine strength. Science results for fifth graders were even stronger, with a clear majority of tested students reaching proficiency. Math tells a different and softer picture. Across third, fourth, and fifth grades, the share of students scoring proficient or above sat below half, holding fairly flat from one grade to the next. A parent weighing this school may want to look into how the school supports math instruction and whether interventions are in place, since the reading and science numbers suggest the teaching staff can move students to proficiency when the approach lands.
The school does not serve grades that produce a graduation rate, so none is reported here. State testing covers grades three through five, and the pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, first, and second grade classrooms sit outside those tested grades, which is standard for Mississippi elementary schools. Participation rates were not available in the data we received, and no multi-year trend was computable, so we cannot say whether these proficiency levels represent improvement or decline from prior years. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was also missing, so we cannot characterize the school's special-population support from the available information.
Gulfport itself is a city shaped by its coastal geography and its post-Katrina rebuilding. Interstate 10 cuts east-west through the middle of the city, and U.S. 90 follows the coast through downtown, which sits near the port. The city is the second most populous in Mississippi, and its economy leans on major employers like Memorial Hospital, the Naval Construction Battalion Center, the Gulfport and Harrison County school districts, Island View Casino, and the port itself. The Mississippi Aquarium, which opened on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, has become a civic anchor, and the city hosts events like Cruisin' the Coast that bring periodic activity to the downtown and beachfront areas. The built environment is largely auto-oriented, with street life concentrated downtown and along the coast rather than spread evenly through residential neighborhoods.
Housing around the school is affordable by most standards. Typical home values in the zip code sit below the state benchmark and well below the national figure, and rents are modest. For a family considering buying, the estimated monthly mortgage on a typical home is meaningfully higher than typical rent, which may factor into decisions about whether to rent or buy in the area. Home values have been rising only slightly year over year, and rents have moved up at a faster clip, though both remain within reach for many Gulfport families. The price-to-income ratio suggests the area is relatively affordable compared with much of the country.
We looked for recent parent-relevant changes in the Gulfport School District, such as curriculum shifts, budget decisions, or new programs, but found nothing specific in the available search results, so we leave that gap rather than guess. No program offerings, course access details, staffing figures, discipline data, or attendance information were provided for the school, so those dimensions cannot be characterized here. Civil rights data was also absent.
What the available data does show is an elementary school where reading and science instruction are producing solid proficiency in the upper grades, where math remains a softer area, and where the student population comes almost entirely from economically disadvantaged households. Families looking at Pass Road would be choosing a community school embedded in a working coastal city with affordable housing and a district that, on the evidence available, appears to be doing better by its students in literacy and science than in mathematics.
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