The top reported proficiency rate is 88% in Science. The lowest is 78% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Florence Elementary School
Florence Elementary School sits on Highway 469 North in Florence, Mississippi, serving grades three through five as part of the Rankin County School District. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet, and it draws from a community that has become one of the faster-growing small cities in the state. Florence is a car-dependent, residential suburb within the Jackson metropolitan area, with a modest downtown civic center along College Street and sprawl pushing northward toward Richland and outward toward the Pearl River. The town's family orientation is clear in its housing stock and household composition, and the school's enrollment reflects that, with a substantial share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals.
The academic results here are a genuine strength. On the Mississippi Academic Assessment Program, proficiency rates in math run high across all three grade levels, with the strongest showing in fourth grade and solid results in third and fifth. English language arts starts especially strong in third grade and then dips somewhat in fourth and fifth, though a clear majority of students remain proficient. Fifth-grade science stands out as the school's highest result, with the large majority of tested students reaching proficiency. Taken together, these numbers point to a school where most students are meeting state standards across core subjects, and where math and science instruction appear to be landing particularly well. Participation rates were not reported in the data, so a parent looking into the completeness of testing may want to confirm that with the school directly.
The student body is moderate in size for a three-grade school, with roughly balanced grade-level cohorts. The demographic profile is predominantly white, with a smaller Black enrollment and very small Hispanic and multiracial representation. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not available, so those population sizes and the services attached to them are not something this account can speak to. A family whose child receives special education or English-learner support would want to ask the school directly about what is offered.
Florence as a community has been growing steadily, with rising home values and household incomes over the past several years. The typical home value in the school's zip code sits below the national benchmark but above the state baseline, and the price-to-income ratio suggests the area remains relatively affordable for working families compared with much of the country. Rental data was not available for this location, so the rental side of the housing picture is missing here. The broader economic context, including mortgage rates and unemployment figures, was available only at the national level and does not necessarily reflect local conditions in Rankin County, so it is not useful for characterizing Florence specifically.
What is missing from the available data is worth naming plainly. The state did not report participation rates for the assessments, so it is unclear whether every eligible student was tested. The school's Title I status, staffing levels, discipline data, attendance figures, course access details, and any specialized program offerings were not provided, so this narrative cannot speak to those dimensions. No multi-year trend data was available, which means there is no way to tell from the data whether these strong proficiency rates represent steady performance, recent improvement, or a one-year snapshot. Civil rights and outcomes data was absent as well. The district-level brief for Rankin County School District did not return information on recent bond issues, strategic priorities, or capital projects, so there is nothing here about facility investments or district-level initiatives that might affect this campus.
What a parent can take from what is available is this: Florence Elementary is a mid-sized upper-elementary school in a growing Rankin County suburb, serving a mostly white student body with a meaningful portion of students from lower-income households. Its state test results are strong across math, English language arts, and science, with science and third-grade reading standing out. The community is affordable by national standards and increasingly attractive to families. The gaps in the data, particularly around special populations, staffing, and trend lines, are the places where a visit or a call to the school would add the most to what is written here.
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