The top reported proficiency rate is 52% in Science. The lowest is 42% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Gautier Middle School
Gautier Middle School sits on Graveline Road in the city of Gautier, a bedroom community on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that grew from a sawmill settlement into a residential hub for workers at the Ingalls shipyard in neighboring Pascagoula and the coastal casinos scattered across the region. The city sits between bayous, wetlands, and the Pascagoula River, with over seventy miles of waterfront and a civic identity rooted in outdoor recreation and eco-tourism rather than a traditional downtown. Publicly reported sources describe Gautier as car-dependent, with U.S. Route 90 running through the center and Interstate 10 crossing the northern limits. Schools here sit on separated campuses spread across the city, and the Jackson County Campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College provides a local educational anchor. The median household income in Gautier runs higher than most neighboring Gulf Coast cities, yet the school itself serves a student body where every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. That contrast between the city's overall economic profile and the school's enrollment tells a parent something about who walks the halls: this is a school serving a working-class population in a community whose income figures are lifted by commuters employed elsewhere.
The school serves grades seven and eight, with a balanced enrollment across the two grades. The student body is diverse. Black students form the largest group, with White and Hispanic students also well represented, and a small share of students identifying as two or more races or other backgrounds. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those dimensions of the school's support structure remain unclear from what we have.
On state assessments, Gautier Middle's results are mixed. Math results are the strongest signal, with roughly half of seventh graders and just under half of eighth graders scoring proficient or above on the MAAP. Eighth grade science landed in similar territory. English language arts results were softer, with proficiency sitting below half in both grades, seventh grade especially so. These are not weak results for a school where every student qualifies for subsidized meals, but the ELA gap is the area where a parent may want to look into this further with the school, perhaps asking how literacy instruction and intervention are structured across the two grades. Participation rates were not reported, and no multi-year trend data was available, so we cannot say whether performance is improving, declining, or holding steady. That absence of trend information limits the read.
The broader housing context matters for families considering a move. Home values in the school's zip code sit below both the state and national benchmarks, and the price-to-income ratio is favorable by national standards. Rents are modest, and the gap between monthly rent and an estimated mortgage payment is wide enough that buying may look attractive to families with stable income, though current mortgage rates remain elevated. The housing market has been essentially flat year over year, with only slight appreciation.
Within the Pascagoula-Gautier School District, a change is coming that families should know about. Jackson Elementary School is scheduled to close after the upcoming school year, which will redraw attendance zones. That closure affects elementary feeder patterns and could shift where younger siblings land, a consideration for families planning several years ahead.
No data on course offerings, staffing ratios, discipline, attendance, or extracurricular programs was available, so the picture of daily school life beyond test results is thin. Gautier Middle is a mid-sized two-year middle school serving an economically disadvantaged and racially diverse student body in a coastal city defined more by its natural surroundings than its commercial core. The academic results show a school holding its own in math and science, with literacy as the area most worth a parent's attention.
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