The top reported proficiency rate is 69% in Science. The lowest is 34% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Philadelphia Elementary School
Philadelphia Elementary School sits in the heart of a small East Mississippi city that serves as the seat of Neshoba County. The town grew up around a traditional courthouse square along Main Street, with a modest population that has been gently declining over recent decades. Manufacturing has long anchored the local economy, including textiles, electric motors, automotive parts, and lumber products, while the nearby Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians reservation brings casino and hospitality enterprises to the area. Long-standing civic traditions like the Neshoba County Fair and the Choctaw Indian Fair give the community a distinctive rhythm, and cultural anchors such as the Marty Stuart Congress of Country Music and the Philadelphia-Neshoba County Museum reflect local pride. The city has a low-density layout with limited walkability, and publicly reported sources describe no major new housing corridors or development pressures.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as part of the Philadelphia Public School District, which covers most of the city. A separate portion of town is zoned to Neshoba County schools, and the Choctaw operate their own school system on reservation land just west of the city. Enrollment at Philadelphia Elementary is modest for its grade band. The student body is predominantly Black, with a smaller White presence and very small shares of other racial and ethnic groups. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the broader economic conditions of the area. The school is neither a charter nor a magnet. Data on English learner status and special education enrollment was not available, so those shares remain unknown.
State assessment results from the most recent school year, using Mississippi's MAAP test, show a clear pattern across grade levels. In math, proficiency is low in third grade, improves to a middling level in fourth and fifth, and then rises to a stronger level by sixth grade. English language arts follows a similar arc, with more students demonstrating proficiency as they move through the upper elementary grades, peaking in sixth grade. Science is tested only in fifth grade, and the proficiency rate there stands out as the school's strongest result, with a clear majority of tested students reaching proficiency. This upward trajectory across grades suggests that students who remain in the school over time make real progress, even as the earliest tested grades show room to grow. A parent may want to ask the school how it supports the transition from early to upper elementary grades and what interventions are in place for the youngest tested students.
No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results represent improvement or decline over time. Participation rates were also missing from the state data set. The school does not serve high school grades, so no graduation rate applies. Information on course offerings, staffing levels, attendance patterns, discipline practices, and civil-rights indicators was not provided. We looked for the district's recent strategic priorities or parent-relevant changes and found little, so we left that out rather than guess.
The housing market around the school is affordable compared with both state and national benchmarks. Home values in the school's zip code sit well below the statewide typical, and a modest year-over-year decline suggests a soft market rather than one driven by competitive pressure. Rental cost data was not available for this area. The price-to-income ratio indicates that ownership remains relatively accessible for local earners, though prevailing mortgage rates add to monthly carrying costs. Families considering a move here would find inexpensive housing in a quiet, traditional small-town setting, with the trade-off of limited growth and few new developments.
What Philadelphia Elementary offers is a small, community-rooted early-education pathway where the entire student body shares an economically disadvantaged background and where academic outcomes build momentum as children progress through the grades. The science results are a genuine bright spot, and the sixth-grade math and ELA proficiency rates suggest the upper grades are doing something right. The lower early-grade results, particularly in third-grade math, are a soft spot a parent would want to understand before enrolling a young child. For families already in the area, the school provides a familiar, local option with signs of academic strengthening in the upper years.
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