North Gulfport Elementary and Middl, Gulfport MS

Original Research by School Decision on North Gulfport Elementary and Middl

North Gulfport Elementary and Middle School sits on Illinois Avenue in the northern part of Gulfport, a coastal Mississippi city that ranks as the second most populous in the state. The school is part of the Harrison County School District, one of two districts serving Gulfport. It serves kindergarten through eighth grade, though its grade-level distribution is unusual: the elementary grades are quite small, while seventh and eighth grade account for the overwhelming majority of the school's enrollment. This means the building functions largely as a middle school, with a smaller elementary program feeding into it. A parent considering this school should ask how that configuration shapes the experience for younger children sharing a building with a large adolescent population.

The student body is predominantly Black, with smaller white, Hispanic, and multiracial populations. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic conditions in the surrounding zip code. The school is not a charter or magnet. We looked for data on English learners and students receiving special-education services but found none reported, so those populations cannot be characterized here.

On Mississippi's MAAP assessments from the most recent school year, math results were low across every tested grade. Proficiency ranged from the low end in fifth and eighth grade to somewhat higher in fourth, sixth, and seventh, but no grade reached what most observers would call a strong level. English language arts told a more mixed story. Some grades performed modestly, while fifth grade and eighth grade stood out as relative bright spots, with a larger share of students reaching proficiency. In science, tested only in fifth and eighth grade, eighth-grade results were the strongest single number on the school's profile, with more than half of tested students scoring proficient. Fifth-grade science landed in a middling range.

A parent reading these results should keep two things in mind. The school's strongest outcomes tend to appear in the upper grades, which are also the largest cohorts and may benefit from whatever staffing or program focus comes with that scale. The elementary grades, with their small class sizes, show weaker results, though small tested groups can swing widely year to year. A parent with a younger child may want to look into how the school supports early literacy and numeracy and whether those small cohorts get the attention that their size might allow.

Gulfport itself is a city shaped by its coastal location and its recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The local economy leans on military operations, tourism, healthcare, and maritime commerce, with major employers including Memorial Hospital, the Naval Construction Battalion Center, and Island View Casino. The Harrison County School District is itself among the city's largest employers. The city has white-sand beaches, casino gaming, and cultural events that draw visitors, and the Mississippi Aquarium has become a civic anchor since opening in 2020. Amtrak service recently returned to Gulfport, and the Port of Gulfport remains one of the busiest on the Gulf of Mexico. The built environment is auto-oriented, with Interstate 10 and U.S. 90 as main arteries, and street life concentrates downtown and along the beachfront.

Housing in the school's zip code is well below the state and national medians, making homeownership relatively accessible for the region. Estimated monthly mortgage costs exceed typical rent by a meaningful margin, and rents have been rising while home values have softened slightly. For a family renting in this area, the cost burden appears moderate relative to income. For a family buying, current mortgage rates make the monthly cost steeper than renting, though purchase prices remain low compared with most of the country.

No graduation rate applies here, since the school does not serve high school grades. Program offerings, staffing levels, discipline data, and attendance figures were not available in the provided material, and no neighbor comparison set was supplied. The district brief did not surface any recently reported changes such as curriculum shifts, facility investments, or budget actions that would be relevant to parents. Those gaps mean this account is grounded in assessment results, enrollment, and community context rather than a full operational picture. A family weighing this school would benefit from visiting and asking directly about academic support structures, especially in the early grades.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 67% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 431%

School 31% · District 68% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 56% · ▼ 36 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 69% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 732%

School 32% · District 57% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

Grade 823%

School 23% · District 54% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 66% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 65% · ▼ 43 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 69% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 61% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 733%

School 33% · District 45% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 57% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

Science

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 79% · ▼ 44 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 42 pts below county median

Grade 857%

School 57% · District 71% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

This schoolHARRISON CO SCHOOL DIST, 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.