The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in English language arts. The lowest is 26% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Green Elementary School
Green Elementary School sits on Forest Avenue in north Jackson, part of the Jackson Public School District, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment is modest for an elementary campus of this grade span. The student body is almost entirely Black, with a very small number of Hispanic, white, and multiracial students. Every student in the building qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which tells you something about the economic context this school operates in: the surrounding neighborhood is one of the more affordable parts of a city that already has housing values well below the state and national medians.
Jackson is Mississippi's capital and largest city, positioned on the Pearl River at the crossroads of Interstates 20 and 55. It is a sprawling, auto-dependent place, with state government offices and cultural institutions clustered downtown and major employers like the University of Mississippi Medical Center and a Nissan manufacturing plant spread across separated zones. The city has lost a substantial share of its population over the past decade, the steepest decline of any major American city in that period, and it has grappled with serious infrastructure problems, including a water-system failure. Development pressure has pushed toward suburban Madison and Rankin counties, leaving many inner-city neighborhoods with modest home values. In the zip code around Green Elementary, typical home values are far below the state benchmark and roughly a third of the national figure, while rents have risen noticeably over the past year. For a family looking to buy near the school, the monthly cost of ownership is quite low relative to income; for a renting family, the rent burden is moderate.
Academically, the most recent state assessment results paint a picture of a school working from a low base. On the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program, math proficiency declines as students move up through the grades: third grade is the strongest, fourth grade drops somewhat, and fifth grade is the weakest, with only about a fifth of tested students reaching proficiency. English language arts tells a different and somewhat more encouraging story, with proficiency rising from third grade through fifth grade, reaching its highest level in the upper elementary grade. Science, tested only in fifth grade, lands in between, with roughly a quarter of students proficient. Across both core subjects, the overall pattern is one where fewer than a third of students are meeting state proficiency benchmarks in most grades, though the upward trajectory in ELA through the grade levels is a genuinely positive signal.
A parent reading these numbers should know what is and is not here. No participation rates were reported for any assessment, so it is hard to confirm how complete the testing picture is. There is no multi-year trend data available, which means you cannot tell from this data alone whether proficiency is improving or declining over time at the school. Information on special education and English learner populations was not reported. Staffing, discipline, attendance, course access, and Title I status were not available in the data provided. Some of these gaps reflect what the state and district publish for a school of this size and type; others may simply be unreported here. A parent considering Green Elementary would want to ask the school directly about class sizes, teacher experience, intervention supports for reading and math, and what the district's new strategic plan, adopted for a five-year span running through 2029, means in practice for a campus like this one.
Jackson Public Schools, the district Green feeds into, is one of the city's largest employers and recently adopted a strategic plan covering the next several years, which publicly reported materials say will shape curriculum, instruction, and resource allocation. The district operates schools throughout the city rather than on a single campus, so families at Green are tied into a systemwide set of priorities and challenges rather than a neighborhood-isolated one.
Who does this fit? Green Elementary is a small, community-anchored elementary school in an affordable part of the capital city, serving a student body that is nearly universally low-income and predominantly Black. For a family already living in this neighborhood, it is the local option, with early-grade ELA showing some upward movement and the prekindergarten slot available on site. The math results and the absence of trend data are areas a parent may want to look into further with the school before making a decision. For families with the flexibility to choose elsewhere in the metro, the academic results here are below what the state expects at most grade levels, and the broader context of Jackson's population loss and infrastructure strain is part of the picture whether or not it shows up in a single school's numbers.
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