The top reported proficiency rate is 51% in Science. The lowest is 23% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Galloway Elementary School
Galloway Elementary sits on Idlewild Street in Jackson, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade as part of Jackson Public School District. The school draws from a neighborhood where home values sit far below state and national benchmarks, and the housing market in this zip code has been softening. For families who own, purchase costs are very low relative to most of the country. The broader affordability picture is shaped by a city that has lost population over the past decade and continues to grapple with infrastructure pressures, including a widely reported water crisis. Against that backdrop, the metropolitan area remains the state's largest economic engine, anchored by the University of Mississippi Medical Center, state government, a Nissan manufacturing plant, and growing employment in nearby suburban counties.
The school itself is small for its grade band. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, consistent with the economic conditions in the surrounding neighborhood. The student body is almost entirely Black, with a tiny number of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. This is a community school in a historically Black section of Mississippi's capital city, and the peer environment reflects that.
On state assessments, the most recent results show a mixed and uneven picture across grade levels. In third grade, proficiency in both math and English language arts is low, with only a small fraction of tested students reaching the proficient threshold. Fourth grade tells a different story, with math proficiency rising substantially and ELA showing a more moderate gain. Fifth grade math drops back to a level near the third-grade result, while fifth-grade ELA holds at a somewhat higher level. The standout result is fifth-grade science, where roughly half of tested students reached proficiency, a relative strength worth acknowledging. The variation from grade to grade is wide enough that a parent may want to ask the school how instruction and support shift between third and fifth, particularly in math.
Participation rates for the state assessments were not available in the data provided, so it is not possible to confirm full testing participation. The data also does not include multi-year trend information, so there is no way to characterize whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability. Individualized education program counts and English learner counts were missing as well. Title I status was not reported, though given universal meal eligibility, the school almost certainly receives Title I funding; the data does not confirm this.
Information on staffing, attendance, discipline, course access, and specific programs was not available. Parents considering Galloway would benefit from asking the school directly about teacher experience, class sizes, and any intervention or enrichment offerings. The district recently adopted a strategic plan covering the next several years, which publicly reported materials indicate will guide curriculum, instruction, and resource allocation across Jackson Public Schools. How that plan translates into changes at the building level for a school like Galloway remains to be seen.
Jackson itself offers a rich set of civic and cultural institutions. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the Museum of Mississippi History, the Children's Museum, and the Museum of Natural Science are all in the city, along with LeFleur's Bluff State Park and the Pearl River. Jackson State University and Millsaps College serve as educational and community anchors. For a family weighing Galloway, the surrounding city provides access to these resources, though the built environment is sprawling and auto-dependent, which affects how easily families can reach them.
Galloway is a small, community-rooted elementary school serving an economically disadvantaged population in a city navigating real challenges. Its academic results are uneven, with a genuine bright spot in fifth-grade science and a mid-cycle lift in fourth grade, alongside persistent weakness in the tested grades at the lower end. Families looking at this school should treat the state results as a starting point and seek a direct conversation with school leadership about what is being done to strengthen instruction where proficiency remains low.
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