Raymond Elem./carver Middle School, Raymond MS

Original Research by School Decision on Raymond Elem./carver Middle School

Raymond Elementary and Carver Middle School is a combined pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade campus in Raymond, Mississippi, part of the Hinds County School District. The school sits on Palestine Street in a small historic town that doubles as one of two county seats for Hinds County. Raymond's identity is shaped by its traditional town square, a Greek Revival courthouse, and the main campus of Hinds Community College, which is a dominant local employer and gives the town a younger median age than most communities of similar size. The town is compact, with a walkable core around the square, though life beyond downtown is largely auto-oriented. Raymond sits near I-20 and the Natchez Trace Parkway, placing it within the Jackson metropolitan area. Growth has been essentially flat for decades, and the dominant civic trajectory is heritage preservation rather than expansion. Housing in the school's zip code sits above the state benchmark but well below the national one, making ownership relatively attainable for the region, though current mortgage rates push monthly costs above what renting would require for a comparable household.

The school serves a student body that is majority Black, with a substantial White minority and a smaller Hispanic presence. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is not a charter or magnet school. State data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those populations could not be characterized here. Information on staffing, course access, discipline, and attendance was also absent from the data provided.

On Mississippi's MAAP assessments, the school's results tell a mixed but in places quite strong story. Science is the standout. Fifth-grade science proficiency is exceptionally high, and eighth-grade science is also strong, with a clear majority of tested students reaching proficiency. Math performance is solid across most grades, with fifth and eighth grade particularly robust, where a strong majority of students are proficient. Third- and fourth-grade math sit near the midpoint, with roughly half of students proficient, and sixth and seventh grade land in a similar range.

English language arts is where the school shows its clearest soft spot. Third- and fourth-grade ELA proficiency is below half, and sixth grade is in the same vicinity. Eighth-grade ELA improves somewhat but still sits below half. The most difficult result is seventh-grade ELA, where only a small fraction of students reached proficiency. This stands apart from the school's other scores and from the stronger showing in the same grade's math. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly if their child is approaching the middle grades, to understand what is driving the drop and what supports are in place.

Because this school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say from the provided information whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability over time. No comparison fact-set was provided for this school, so its position relative to neighboring schools in Hinds County could not be assessed. No data on advanced coursework, dual-credit pathways, career programs, or extracurricular offerings was available.

What the data does show is a school with genuine strengths in science and math, particularly in the upper elementary and eighth-grade years, living in a quiet, historic college town where housing costs are moderate for the region. The ELA results, especially in seventh grade, are the area most worth a parent's attention before enrolling.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 51% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 27 pts above county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 40% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 48% · ▲ 20 pts above district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 45 pts above county median

Grade 653%

School 53% · District 38% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 50% · ▲ 2 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Grade 871%

School 71% · District 43% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 47 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 341%

School 41% · District 40% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 41%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 559%

School 59% · District 50% · ▲ 9 pts above district

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

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 39% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 717%

School 17% · District 29% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 36% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

Science

Grade 584%

School 84% · District 73% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 40 pts above county median

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 56% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

This schoolHINDS 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.