Blue Mountain High School, Blue Mountain MS

Original Research by School Decision on Blue Mountain High School

Blue Mountain High School is a single-campus school serving pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in the town of Blue Mountain, Mississippi, part of the South Tippah School District. Despite the name, it is a full pre-K-to-12 operation on West Mill Street, woven into the town itself rather than sitting on a separated campus. The enrollment is small for a school spanning that many grades, and the community around it is a rural crossroads place in southwestern Tippah County, anchored by Blue Mountain Christian University. The town grew around that institution, and publicly reported sources identify the university and the school district as the principal local employers. The housing market here sits well below both the Mississippi state benchmark and the national one, making homeownership relatively accessible for families with steady incomes, though the town's own poverty rate is described in publicly reported census material as substantial.

The student body reflects a mixed-race community. White students make up the largest single group, with Black students the next largest, followed by a Hispanic population and a smaller share of students identifying as two or more races. A very large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places this school firmly in the category of serving an economically disadvantaged population. Data on special education enrollment and English learner status was not available in the records reviewed.

On Mississippi's MAAP assessments, the school's results paint a varied picture across grade levels and subjects. The early elementary grades stand out as a strength. Third-grade math and English language arts proficiency rates are solidly above where a parent would hope, and fourth grade holds up reasonably well in both subjects. Fifth-grade science is a particular bright spot, with the large majority of tested students reaching proficiency. Seventh-grade math and ELA are also respectable.

The picture shifts in the upper elementary and middle grades. Sixth-grade ELA proficiency drops off sharply, and eighth grade shows weakness across math, ELA, and science. The eighth-grade science result is especially low, with only a small fraction of tested students proficient. These are the kinds of soft spots that a parent may want to look into further with the school, particularly if a child is approaching the middle school years. Whether the drop reflects a transition gap as students move through grade levels, staffing challenges, or something else, the data alone does not say. The tested cohorts are small, which means a few students moving in or out can shift results noticeably from year to year.

Several categories of data that would help a parent form a fuller picture were not available. No high school-level assessment results were included, so there is no read here on how students perform on end-of-course or college-readiness measures. No graduation rate was provided. Course access information, staffing details, discipline data, and civil rights reporting were absent from the records reviewed, so questions about advanced course offerings, teacher experience, suspension patterns, or other program details cannot be answered from this material. The South Tippah School District brief also turned up little on recent strategic changes, so there is no district-level context to add.

What the available evidence does show is a small, community-rooted school with genuine academic strength in its early grades, a mixed middle-grade record, and a student population facing real economic challenges. For a family living in or near Blue Mountain, the school's integration into the town and its university setting give it a distinct character. Parents with children in the primary grades may find solid instruction and strong early outcomes. Those with students entering the upper grades would benefit from asking the school directly about how it supports academic growth through the transition years and into high school, since the state testing data raises fair questions about consistency across the grade span.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 23 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 367%

School 67% · District 66% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 71% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 68% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 62% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 769%

School 69% · District 57% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 54% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 59% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 464%

School 64% · District 59% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 56% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 48% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 756%

School 56% · District 37% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 47% · ▼ 10 pts below district

even with state median

Science

Grade 586%

School 86% · District 80% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 52% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median

This schoolSOUTH TIPPAH 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.