Scott Central Attendance Center, Forest MS

Original Research by School Decision on Scott Central Attendance Center

Scott Central Attendance Center is a single-campus school in Forest, Mississippi, serving students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. It sits in the Scott County School District, one of two districts that cover the Forest area. The campus on Old Jackson Road draws from a small city that functions as the county seat, a place shaped by poultry processing plants and a Raytheon manufacturing facility. Forest is a car-dependent town with a courthouse-centered downtown and a residential mix that reflects its working-class employment base. The community is minority-majority, and the school's enrollment mirrors that reality, with a Black majority, a sizable White minority, and a smaller Hispanic presence alongside a handful of students from other backgrounds.

Every student at Scott Central qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. That fact, combined with the area's modest median household income and housing values well below the state and national benchmarks, tells a story of a school operating in a tight economic context. Home values in the school's zip code sit far below the Mississippi statewide figure and a fraction of the national one. The price-to-income ratio is favorable compared with many parts of the country, so buying a home near the school is relatively attainable for working families, though the town itself has been losing population over the past two decades.

On state assessments, the picture is mixed and grade-dependent. In mathematics, fourth grade stands out as a relative bright spot, with a solid majority of tested students reaching proficiency. Sixth and eighth grade also land in a middling-to-decent range. Third and fifth grade math, by contrast, show lower proficiency, with fewer than half of tested students clearing the bar. English language arts follows a similar pattern of unevenness. Fifth grade ELA is the strongest, with half of students proficient, while seventh grade is the weakest, with only about a quarter reaching that mark. Third grade ELA is also low. Science results, available only for fifth and eighth grade, sit in the middle range, with fifth grade the stronger of the two.

The inconsistency from grade to grade is the defining academic pattern here. Some grades perform respectably, while others trail, and there is no single trend line that holds across the board. A parent looking at this school would want to ask which grades and subjects are getting traction and what the school is doing about the ones that are not. Participation rate data was not available for any grade or subject, which is a gap worth noting but one that often reflects reporting rather than anything about the school itself.

The school serves a broad grade span under one roof, from pre-kindergarten through senior year, which gives it the feel of a community institution where families stay connected to the same campus for a child's entire education. The enrollment is mid-sized for a rural Mississippi school serving this many grades. The district did not provide staffing, course access, discipline, or attendance data, so there is little the available record can say about the day-to-day school environment, teacher ratios, or program offerings. We looked for the district's recent strategic priorities or parent-relevant changes and found none reported, so we left that out rather than guess.

No graduation rate was provided in the data. Because the school does serve high school grades, that absence is a genuine gap rather than one explained by grade band, and a parent may want to look into graduation outcomes directly with the school or district. Civil-rights data was also not available.

Forest itself is a place where employment in food processing and defense manufacturing anchors the local economy, and the city promotes a small-town identity alongside its industrial base. Recreation options include Gaddis Park and city facilities, with Roosevelt State Park and the Bienville Pines Scenic Area nearby. The town lacks public transit, and no public library was identified in publicly reported sources. For families considering Scott Central, the school offers continuity through all grade levels in a single, familiar setting, with academic results that show real strength in some grades and clear room for growth in others.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

80-89%Cohort of 53 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

241 schools plotted. 29 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 60% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 53% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 36% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 55% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 746%

School 46% · District 44% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 46% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 45% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 21 pts below state median

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 48% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 47% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 45%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 724%

School 24% · District 27% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 33% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Science

Grade 557%

School 57% · District 53% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 49% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median

This schoolSCOTT CO SCHOOL DIST, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.