The top reported proficiency rate is 43% in Science. The lowest is 31% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Jefferson Co Jr Hi
Jefferson County Junior High, also listed in state assessment records as Jefferson County Middle School, sat on Highway 33 in Fayette, Mississippi, serving middle grades as part of the Jefferson County School District. The school is now closed, which is the most important fact for any parent encountering this profile. What follows describes the school as it was in its last reported academic year, drawn from the 2022-23 state assessment results, so a reader can understand what this campus offered and where it stood before its closure.
On Mississippi's MAAP assessments, proficiency rates were modest across the board. In seventh-grade math, roughly a third of tested students reached proficient or above, and the same was true in eighth-grade math. English language arts results ran slightly lower, with about three in ten seventh graders and roughly three in ten eighth graders scoring proficient. Science, tested only in eighth grade, was the relative bright spot, with a somewhat higher share of students reaching proficiency than in math or reading. These are results that fall below what many communities would hope to see, and a parent looking at this school's record would want to ask the district what supports were in place for students performing below grade level. No trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results were improving, flat, or declining in the years before closure.
The school did not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. That gap reflects the grade band, not a missing metric. Similarly, no civil-rights data, course-access information, staffing figures, or discipline records were available in the provided data. Enrollment counts, demographic breakdowns, free-or-reduced-price lunch rates, and special-population figures were all missing. Without these, it is hard to build a full picture of the student body or the resources directed toward it. The absence of these data fields means a parent would need to go directly to the district for details about who attended and what services were offered.
Fayette itself is a small, rural town and the seat of Jefferson County. Publicly reported sources describe it as overwhelmingly residential, with limited commercial activity and a population that has been declining for decades. The town has a deep civil-rights history, Charles Evers having been elected mayor in the late 1960s as the first African-American mayor in post-Reconstruction Mississippi. City Hall sits on Medgar Evers Boulevard, named for his brother. Civic life centers on the courthouse and traditional downtown area, though no specific walkability scores or pedestrian-infrastructure descriptions were found. The town is very compact, but as a rural Mississippi community, it likely lacks dedicated pedestrian amenities. No major employers were identified in the available sources beyond the expected county government and school district.
The housing market here is among the most affordable in the state. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit far below the Mississippi state benchmark and drastically below the national figure. Those values have been declining on a year-over-year basis, which is unusual even in a state where many markets have held steady or grown modestly. The price-to-income ratio suggests that homeownership is within reach for local earners, but the declining values point to limited demand and weak market conditions, consistent with the broader population decline the town has experienced.
No information on recent district-level policy changes, curriculum initiatives, referenda, or facility plans was found. The district brief turned up little of lasting impact from recent years. This absence means a parent cannot rely on the available data to understand what the Jefferson County School District prioritized during this school's final years or what may have led to its closure. That is a gap worth raising directly with the district.
For a parent or resident reading this, the takeaway is straightforward. This campus is no longer operating. Its last available academic results showed a middle school where roughly a third of students were reaching grade-level benchmarks in core subjects, with science somewhat stronger. The community around it is small, rural, affordable, and shrinking. Anyone seeking current information about where Jefferson County's middle-grade students now attend, what programs are available, and how those campuses are performing should contact the Jefferson County School District directly.
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