The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in Science. The lowest is 21% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Kemper County High School
Kemper County High School sits in DeKalb, the county seat of Kemper County, Mississippi, a small rural town where Highway 39 runs through the center and Highway 16 crosses the north side. The school serves grades nine through twelve as part of the Kemper County School District. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet. The campus is located on Martin Luther King Jr Street, and the town itself centers on the courthouse a short distance away. DeKalb is car-dependent by nature, with civic and commercial activity concentrated along the highway corridors. The town's population has been declining, and no major new housing developments or growth projects were identified in publicly available sources.
The student body is small for a four-year high school, and every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the deep economic disadvantage that characterizes this corner of rural Mississippi. The enrollment is almost entirely Black or African American, with only a handful of students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Data on special education enrollment and English learners was not available, so those portions of the picture remain unclear. The grade distribution is somewhat uneven, with the junior class considerably larger than the senior class.
State assessment results were available but only from an earlier school year, and they cover seventh and eighth grade levels rather than the high school grades the school currently serves. This suggests the school's grade configuration has changed since that testing period, or that the results reflect a prior organizational structure. In math, the available proficiency rate was low, with roughly one in five tested students reaching the bar. English language arts results were similar, also showing a low share of students meeting proficiency. Science stood out differently, with a clear majority of tested students reaching proficiency, which is a comparatively strong result for this school. Participation rates in math and English were solid. Still, because these results do not reflect current high school grade levels, they offer only a limited window into present academic performance. A parent looking for current state assessment results at the high school level would want to ask the school or district directly.
Graduation rate data was not provided. The same is true for civil rights data, discipline information, course access, staffing levels, and attendance figures. Program offerings such as Advanced Placement, dual credit, or career and technical education were not listed in the data, so families would need to inquire with the school about what academic pathways are available. Without this information, it is hard to characterize the breadth or depth of the curriculum.
At the district level, a change worth knowing about is the consolidation of several former elementary schools into a new Kemper County Elementary School, which opened in DeKalb. The new building includes a multipurpose room and a storm shelter. This reorganization affects attendance zones and school assignments across the county, though it does not directly alter the high school's configuration.
The housing market around DeKalb is very affordable compared with state and national benchmarks. Home values sit well below the Mississippi average and far below national figures, and the price-to-income ratio is modest. With mortgage rates elevated in the current environment, the estimated monthly cost of ownership remains low in absolute terms. No rental market data was available for the area. DeKalb's own median income and poverty figures, as publicly reported, reflect a community under economic pressure, with a high poverty rate and a declining population.
What the data paints is a small rural high school where poverty is pervasive, serving a nearly homogeneous student body in a county seat that is losing residents. The academic results available are dated and from grade levels the school may no longer serve, so they should be read with that limitation in mind. The science result from that earlier period is a bright spot worth noting. Families considering Kemper County High School would benefit from asking the school directly about current test scores, graduation rates, course offerings, and support services, since much of that information was not available in the sources reviewed.
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