The top reported proficiency rate is 73% in Math. The lowest is 60% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Bailey Middle Apac School
Bailey Middle APAC School sits on North State Street in Jackson, serving grades six through eight as part of the Jackson Public School District. The "APAC" designation points to an academic and performing arts program, which sets the school apart from a conventional middle school. Its enrollment is small for a middle school, and the student body is overwhelmingly Black, reflecting the demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods and the district more broadly. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a reflection of the economic conditions in this part of Jackson. The school is not a charter and does not carry a magnet designation in the data provided, though its APAC identity suggests a specialized academic track within the district.
On state assessments, Bailey posts results that run notably strong for a middle school serving an entirely economically disadvantaged population. Seventh-grade math stands out as the brightest spot, with the large majority of tested students scoring proficient or above. Sixth-grade math is also solid, with a healthy share clearing the proficiency bar. Eighth-grade math dips from those levels, and a parent may want to look into what happens to instruction or student support as cohorts move through that final year. English language arts results are steadier across the three grades, hovering in a similar range each year, with eighth grade showing a slight uptick. Eighth-grade science proficiency matches the eighth-grade ELA level. These are respectable results in a district and city where academic outcomes have historically been uneven, and the seventh-grade math performance in particular suggests the school is doing something right with that cohort.
Multi-year trend data was not available, so it is hard to say whether these results reflect sustained improvement or a single year's snapshot. Participation rates for the state assessments were also missing from the data. Information on individualized education program enrollment, English learner status, discipline data, course access, staffing, and attendance was not provided, so those dimensions of the school environment remain unknown here.
Jackson itself is Mississippi's capital and largest city, a sprawling, auto-dependent place spread across a large land area at the crossroads of Interstates 20 and 55. The city sits on the Pearl River and functions as a center of state government, healthcare, and education, with the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson Public Schools, and a Nissan manufacturing plant among its top employers. Jackson State University and Millsaps College both operate within the city. Downtown holds the state capitol, the governor's mansion, and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, but much retail and commercial activity has migrated to suburban areas in Madison and Rankin counties. The city experienced the largest percentage population decline of any major U.S. city over the last census decade, and a severe water crisis in 2022 drew national attention to its infrastructure challenges. The metro area, by contrast, remains the largest in the state and continues to generate economic activity.
The housing market around the school reflects this context. Home values in the school's zip code sit below the state benchmark and well below national levels, making ownership relatively accessible by broad standards, though the area has seen a modest recent decline in values. Rents have ticked upward recently. For a family considering this neighborhood, housing costs are low compared with most metropolitan areas, but the broader challenges facing Jackson's core neighborhoods, from infrastructure to population loss, are part of the tradeoff.
At the district level, Jackson Public School District recently adopted a Strategic Plan covering the next several years, which will shape curriculum, instruction, and resource allocation priorities. Publicly reported information did not include details on specific curriculum changes, facility investments, or program expansions tied to that plan, so families may want to ask the district directly about how the new strategy will affect middle-grade instruction at APAC schools like Bailey.
What Bailey offers is a small middle-school environment with a specialized academic and arts focus, strong state assessment results relative to its student population, and a peer group drawn largely from the surrounding community. The absence of data on special populations, discipline, staffing, and attendance leaves gaps that a family would want to fill with a visit or a conversation with school leadership. For parents in Jackson seeking a structured academic pathway for grades six through eight, Bailey APAC is worth serious consideration, particularly given the strength of its middle-grade math results.
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