The top reported proficiency rate is 90% in Science. The lowest is 80% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Lizana Elementary School
Lizana Elementary School sits on Lizana School Road in the Gulfport address area, serving kindergarten through sixth grade as part of the Harrison County School District. The school draws from a community where military operations, tourism, healthcare, and maritime commerce anchor the local economy. Gulfport is the second-most populous city in Mississippi, a coastal place shaped by its port, white-sand beaches, and casino-driven tourism, with a history of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina that reshaped public facilities and housing stock. The Harrison County School District operates alongside the separate Gulfport School District, with school facilities distributed across the city rather than clustered downtown. We searched for recent parent-relevant district changes such as referendums, curriculum overhauls, or property tax shifts but found none reported, so we have nothing to relay on that front.
The school's enrollment is moderate for its grade band. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, pointing to a working-class and lower-middle-income population base. The student body is predominantly white, with very small numbers of students identifying as Black, Hispanic, multiracial, American Indian or Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. No Asian students were reported. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so we cannot characterize those populations here.
Academic results on Mississippi's MAAP assessment are a clear strength. In mathematics, proficiency rates across grades three through six run strong, with the third and sixth grades reaching especially high levels and the fifth grade sitting lower but still representing a solid majority of tested students scoring proficient or above. English language arts results follow a similar pattern: third grade stands out as particularly high, while fourth, fifth, and sixth grades each show a comfortable majority of students reaching proficiency. Fifth-grade science proficiency is also strong, with the large majority of tested students scoring proficient or above. These results place the school among the higher-performing elementary programs in the state on these measures. Where the fifth-grade math result is comparatively lower, a parent may want to look into this further with the school, though it still reflects most students meeting the proficiency bar.
Multi-year trend data was not available, so we cannot say whether these results represent improvement, stability, or change over time. Participation rates for the assessments were also not reported. No data was provided on discipline, course access, staffing ratios, or attendance, so we cannot speak to those aspects of school environment. The school's Title I status was not reported, and its locale classification was absent from the data we received.
The housing market around the school sits above the Mississippi state benchmark for typical home values but well below the national figure. Monthly mortgage costs and rents are moderate relative to household income, with rent consuming a reasonable share of earnings and home prices sitting at a price-to-income ratio below the national level. Rents have been rising at a faster clip than home values year over year. For families considering a move into the attendance zone, housing is relatively accessible by national standards, and the local economy's mix of military installations, healthcare systems, and hospitality employment provides a range of employment contexts.
What the data describes is a small-to-mid-size elementary school with a working-class enrollment, a fairly homogeneous student body, and consistently strong academic outcomes on state assessments across all tested grades and subjects. The absence of environment, discipline, staffing, and program data means parents would need to go directly to the school for those details. The academic picture, though, is the strongest signal in what was provided, and it is a positive one.
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