The top reported proficiency rate is 49% in Science. The lowest is 30% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Jdc Middle School
JDC Middle School sits in Prentiss, the county seat of Jefferson Davis County in southern Mississippi. It is a traditional public middle school serving grades six through eight, part of the Jefferson Davis County School District. The school is not a charter or magnet school. Its enrollment is modest for a middle school, and the student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller White enrollment and a handful of students identifying as two or more races or American Indian/Alaska Native. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the broader economic conditions in the surrounding community rather than anything specific to the school's admissions. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so those populations cannot be characterized here.
Prentiss itself is a small rural town that has been losing population over the past two decades. The built environment is low-density and auto-oriented, with a compact civic center along Third Street where City Hall and the Jefferson Davis County Courthouse sit. The courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. U.S. Route 84 bypasses the town center on a four-lane highway, and Mississippi Highway 13 runs through. One of the town's distinguishing features is the Longleaf Trace, Mississippi's first recreational rail trail, which runs between Prentiss and Hattiesburg along a former Illinois Central Railroad line. There is no public transit system, and no public library was identified in available sources. The town's employment base centers on public sector, healthcare, and education jobs, with the school district, Jefferson Davis Community Hospital, and municipal government as the identifiable anchors. Prentiss Christian School, a private K-12 institution, offers an alternative option for families in the area.
The housing market around the school is very affordable by state and national standards. Typical home values in the school's zip code sit well below the Mississippi state benchmark and far below the national figure, and values have drifted downward over the past year. This makes homeownership accessible on a modest income, though it also reflects limited demand and the town's declining population. No rent data was available for the area.
On state assessments, JDC Middle School's results paint a mixed but improving picture as students move through the grades. In math, proficiency rises meaningfully from sixth grade to eighth grade, with eighth graders reaching the strongest results in the school. Eighth-grade science proficiency is comparable to the eighth-grade math level, suggesting the upper grades are where the school shows its most solid academic footing. English language arts results are more uneven. Seventh grade stands out as the weakest point in ELA, with proficiency dropping below both sixth and eighth grade levels, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what is happening instructionally at that grade level. No participation rate data was reported, and no multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement or decline over time.
Because this is a middle school, there is no graduation rate to report. No data on course access, staffing ratios, attendance, or discipline was provided, which limits the picture of the school's internal environment. Programs data was not available, so any specialized offerings, extracurriculars, or support services the school may provide are not reflected here. The district brief searched for parent-relevant changes in the Jefferson Davis County School District and found little of lasting impact to report, so there are no recent district-level shifts to contextualize what is happening at the school.
What the available information suggests is a small rural middle school serving a community with limited economic resources, where academic results are uneven but show real strength in the upper grades, particularly in math and science. Families considering this school should weigh the affordable cost of living and the rural, close-knit setting against the need to ask questions about ELA instruction, available programs, and student support services that the public data does not capture.
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