The top reported proficiency rate is 39% in Science. The lowest is 13% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Shirley Elementary School
Shirley Elementary School sits on Judy Street in south Jackson, serving pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of Jackson Public School District. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet, and it draws from a neighborhood where housing values sit well below the state and national benchmarks. The surrounding zip code shows modest home value declines over the past year, while rents have crept upward, reflecting the broader tension in a city where the core population has thinned even as the metropolitan area holds its economic weight.
The school enrolls roughly two hundred eighty children across its grade bands, with the largest cohorts in kindergarten and first grade. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which places Shirley among the highest-poverty schools in a district where concentrated need is common. The student body is almost entirely Black, with small numbers of children identifying as Hispanic, white, or multiracial. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not reported, so those figures are absent here rather than absent at the school.
On state assessments, Shirley's results paint a mixed picture that leans toward struggle, particularly in mathematics. Third-grade math proficiency sits at a very low level, with only a handful of children reaching the proficient threshold. Fourth and fifth grade math improves modestly but remains low, with fewer than one in five tested students clearing the proficiency bar in either grade. English language arts tells a somewhat different story. Third-grade ELA is low, but fourth grade jumps to a more respectable level, with about a third of students reaching proficiency. Fifth-grade ELA dips back down but still outperforms the school's math results across the board. Science, tested only in fifth grade, is the school's strongest showing, with a solid share of students demonstrating proficiency. A parent looking at these patterns may want to ask the school how it supports math instruction in the early grades, since that is where the results are weakest, and whether the fourth-grade ELA gains reflect a specific intervention that could be extended.
No participation rate data was available for any subject or grade, and no multi-year trend data was provided, so it is not possible to say from this information whether proficiency is improving or declining over time. The school does not serve high school grades, so graduation rate data does not apply.
Jackson itself is Mississippi's capital and largest city, a sprawling place laid out on a grid plan along the Pearl River. State government, the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and a Nissan manufacturing plant anchor the regional economy, and the metro area continues to grow even as the city proper has lost population. Publicly reported sources note a severe water infrastructure crisis in recent years, and development pressure has shifted toward suburban counties like Madison and Rankin. For a family considering this neighborhood, housing is relatively affordable compared with state and national levels, with estimated mortgage costs lower than typical rents. The Jackson Public School District recently adopted a strategic plan covering the next several years, which may shape curriculum and resource decisions across its schools, though specific changes at Shirley were not detailed in available materials.
What Shirley appears to offer is a small, community-rooted elementary school serving a high-poverty student population in an affordable corner of a capital city working through real challenges. Its academic results are uneven, with science and some ELA grades standing out while math remains a clear soft spot. Families considering this school would benefit from asking directly about math support, tutoring availability, and how the district's new strategic plan will translate into classroom-level changes here.
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