The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Math. The lowest is 59% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on St Martin East Elementary School
St. Martin East Elementary School sits on Rose Farm Road in Ocean Springs, a Gulf Coast city with a strong arts identity. The school serves the earliest learners, from pre-kindergarten through third grade, which means only third graders participate in Mississippi's state assessments. No graduation rate applies here, and there is no course access or advanced coursework data to report, as those concepts belong to upper grades.
The school draws a moderate enrollment for its grade band. A majority of students identify as white, with smaller shares identifying as two or more races, Black, Asian, and Hispanic. A substantial portion of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The data does not include counts for students with individualized education programs or English learners, so those population sizes are not available from what was provided.
On the state MAAP assessment, third grade math proficiency sits well above the midpoint, with a clear majority of tested students reaching proficient or above. English language arts results are solid too, with a majority of third graders meeting proficiency. Math outpaces ELA by a comfortable margin. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement, stability, or decline over time. Participation rate data was also missing from what was provided.
Ocean Springs itself is a residential and tourist community on the eastern shore of Biloxi Bay, a short drive from Biloxi. Publicly reported descriptions call it a vibrant and eclectic arts community, home to numerous galleries, artist studios, restaurants, and a micro-brewery. The downtown core along Government Street and Washington Avenue is a designated Mississippi Main Street community, with streets lined by live oak trees and a walkable commercial fabric of shops, bars, and galleries. The Walter Anderson Museum of Art anchors the cultural scene downtown. The city hosts the Peter Anderson Festival, one of the largest fine arts festivals in the state, which draws tens of thousands of attendees. Outside the downtown core, the built environment turns more suburban and auto-oriented, typical of Gulf Coast communities.
The city was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed many buildings including the Biloxi Bay Bridge. A replacement bridge was later constructed, reconnecting Ocean Springs to Biloxi. The city has been rebuilding and redeveloping since, with steady growth in its arts and tourism economy. Population has been relatively stable over recent census cycles.
Housing in the school's zip code sits above the state benchmark but below the national one, making it relatively affordable compared to many parts of the country while representing a premium within Mississippi. Home values have shown modest year-over-year appreciation. Rents have grown slightly faster than home values on a percentage basis. The rent-to-income ratio suggests that renting remains within reach for most households, and the gap between monthly rent and an estimated mortgage payment is moderate. No specific major employers were identified in the available research, though references to healthcare facilities and a seafood industry appeared without naming particular anchors.
The school is part of the Jackson County School District. The district brief returned no lasting parent-relevant changes from recent years, so there is little to report on programmatic shifts, boundary changes, or leadership transitions. No civil rights data, discipline figures, staffing ratios, or attendance metrics were provided for this school. No program offerings such as gifted education, pre-K specifics, or extracurricular activities were listed, and no comparison fact-set against neighboring schools was available.
What the data does establish is a school where third graders perform well on state assessments, particularly in math, within a coastal community that blends arts-centered small-town character with suburban residential development. Families considering St. Martin East would be looking at a setting that serves early childhood and primary grades, in a town that has rebuilt itself around culture and tourism since the storm. A parent may want to look into class sizes, special education services, and pre-K enrollment details directly with the school, as those pieces are absent from the available data.
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