Creekbend Elementary and Middle, Biloxi MS

Original Research by School Decision on Creekbend Elementary and Middle

Creekbend Elementary and Middle sits on Highway 15 in Biloxi, serving kindergarten through eighth grade as part of the Harrison County School District. It is a sizable school for its grade band, drawing from a community shaped by a distinctive coastal economy. Biloxi stretches along the Mississippi Sound, where sugar-white sand beaches meet a beachfront corridor of casino resorts. Keesler Air Force Base, home to major training wings, lies within the city and has anchored the local economy since World War II. The city also retains its historic identity as a seafood port, with a Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum and an annual Blessing of the Fleet. Publicly reported sources note six National Register historic districts with late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century architecture. The built environment is auto-oriented, with U.S. Highway 90 running along the beach and Interstate 10 crossing the northern sections.

The academic picture at Creekbend is a study in grade-level variation. Math proficiency starts strong in the early grades and remains so through sixth grade, with the third, fourth, and sixth grade cohorts all posting proficiency rates well above what most Mississippi schools achieve. Science results are particularly striking, with fifth and eighth grade proficiency both landing at levels most schools in the state would envy. English language arts follows a similar early-grade pattern, with third through fifth grade proficiency sitting comfortably above typical state levels.

The picture shifts in the middle grades. Math proficiency drops in fifth grade, recovers in sixth, then eases again in seventh and eighth. English language arts shows a more pronounced dip, with seventh grade proficiency falling to a level that is markedly lower than the school's own elementary results. Eighth grade ELA recovers somewhat but still sits below the earlier grades. A parent whose child is entering the upper grades may want to look into this further with the school, particularly around seventh grade literacy instruction.

The school's enrollment reflects a broad racial mix. White students form the largest group, with Black students the next largest, followed by a meaningful share of students identified as two or more races and a smaller Asian population. Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students each represent small fractions. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here.

Biloxi's housing market is relatively affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit below the Mississippi statewide figure and well below the national figure, and values have softened slightly over the past year. Rents are modest, and the ratio of housing costs to income suggests the area remains accessible for working families. The local economy draws from the casino resort industry, the military installation, and state government offices, including the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources headquarters. The broader Gulfport-Biloxi metropolitan area widens the regional labor market.

Biloxi's recent history is marked by Hurricane Katrina and the long rebuilding that followed, including a rebuilt Biloxi Bay Bridge and ongoing redevelopment plans for commercial properties along the beachfront corridor. The city's population has declined modestly since the turn of the decade. These forces shape the community Creekbend serves: a coastal city rebuilding around tourism, military, and seafood, with affordable housing but an economy exposed to storms and seasonal fluctuation.

Several data gaps are worth naming. No locale classification, staffing figures, discipline data, attendance rates, or course-access information were available for the school. No program offerings, such as gifted, arts, or athletics, were reported. No neighbor comparison or civil-rights data was provided. Because the school does not serve high school grades, no graduation rate applies. The district brief did not surface specific parent-relevant changes such as recent referendums, curriculum shifts, or facility plans. What the available data does show is a school with genuine academic strength in the elementary years and in science, a dip in middle-grade literacy, and a community defined by its coastal setting and mixed military-tourism economy.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 383%

School 83% · District 67% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Grade 481%

School 81% · District 68% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 561%

School 61% · District 56% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 686%

School 86% · District 69% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 767%

School 67% · District 57% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 866%

School 66% · District 54% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 372%

School 72% · District 66% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 474%

School 74% · District 65% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 579%

School 79% · District 69% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 668%

School 68% · District 61% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 746%

School 46% · District 45% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 864%

School 64% · District 57% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Science

Grade 589%

School 89% · District 79% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 882%

School 82% · District 71% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above 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.