The top reported proficiency rate is 60% in Science. The lowest is 40% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Roseland Park Elementary School
Roseland Park Elementary School sits on Gilcrease Street in Picayune, the largest city in Pearl River County, Mississippi. A public school in the Picayune School District, it serves kindergarten through sixth grade and enrolls a modest-sized student body for that grade band. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which means the school operates with a universally economically disadvantaged population. The racial makeup leans just over half white, with a substantial Black enrollment and a smaller multiracial share, plus a few Asian and American Indian students and a handful of Hispanic students. The school is neither a charter nor a magnet. Data on English learners and special-education enrollment was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here.
On Mississippi's MAAP assessments for the most recent school year, Roseland Park's results paint a mixed picture that shifts notably by grade. Fourth grade stands out as the strongest performer. In both math and English language arts, fourth-grade proficiency rates sit well above half, and the fifth-grade science rate reaches a similar level. These are solid marks for a school with this demographic profile. Fifth-grade ELA also lands at about half proficient, a respectable showing.
The picture dims in the other grades. Third-grade proficiency in both math and ELA sits below the fourth-grade marks by a wide margin, with fewer than a third of tested third graders reaching proficiency in ELA. Fifth-grade math drops below a third proficient, and sixth-grade math falls even lower. Sixth-grade ELA recovers somewhat but still sits below half. The contrast between fourth grade and the surrounding grades is striking, and the school has no multi-year trend data available to show whether this pattern is consistent or a one-year fluctuation. Participation rates were also missing from the state data, so it is unclear whether all enrolled students sat for the exams. A parent weighing this school may want to ask the administration how fourth-grade results compare to the other grades over time and what supports are in place for the lower-performing tested grades.
Because Roseland Park is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate, no AP or dual-credit course access, and no career-pathway data to assess. These gaps reflect the grade band, not missing accountability. The school environment data available to us was thin. Discipline records, staffing ratios, attendance figures, and Title I status were not provided, so the portrait of day-to-day school climate is incomplete. Program offerings were also absent from the data we received.
Picayune itself is a residential community with a commercial core along historic Goodyear Boulevard, where City Hall and local businesses sit. The city grew substantially after Hurricane Katrina as families relocated from the New Orleans area and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and it was later added to the New Orleans metropolitan area. Publicly reported sources describe it as roughly equidistant from New Orleans, Hattiesburg, and Gulfport-Biloxi, with Interstate 59 and U.S. Route 11 providing regional road access and an Amtrak station offering daily service. The NASA Stennis Space Center, a major employer, sits about a short drive away. Picayune Main Street has organized events and capital projects, including a large downtown playground, to bring life to the historic core. Outside downtown, the city is largely car-dependent.
For a family looking at housing, the area is relatively affordable. Home values in the school's zip code sit near the Mississippi state benchmark and well below the national figure, with a price-to-income ratio that suggests purchasing a home is within reach for many local households compared to much of the country. Rent data was not available. The district brief turned up little in the way of recently reported strategic changes or initiatives, so there is not much to relay about new programs or leadership shifts at the district level.
What Roseland Park offers is a small community elementary school with a universal free-lunch population and a curriculum measured by the state's standard assessments. Its fourth-grade and fifth-grade science results are genuinely strong, and its fourth-grade ELA and math results suggest that good instruction is happening in that grade. The weaker third, fifth, and sixth-grade math results, and the lower third-grade ELA, are areas a parent would want to understand before enrolling. The lack of staffing, discipline, attendance, and program data means this portrait leans heavily on test results alone, and a family would benefit from visiting the school to fill in what the numbers do not capture.
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