The top reported proficiency rate is 77% in Science. The lowest is 42% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Tishomingo Elementary
Tishomingo Elementary sits in a very small Mississippi town along Highway 25, roughly equidistant between Iuka to the north and Belmont to the south. The school serves kindergarten through eighth grade under the Tishomingo County School District, drawing from a rural community nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The town's footprint is tiny, with vintage homes on shady streets and a scattering of small stores along the main highway. Tishomingo State Park sits just to the southeast, where the Natchez Trace Parkway winds through, and Bay Springs Lake and Pickwick Lake are close by. Publicly reported descriptions from the town's own website evoke a friendly, quiet atmosphere with churches, parks, and ball fields. No public transit serves the area; families rely on cars. The community has seen only slight population growth in recent years, with no major housing developments or commercial expansion identified in available sources.
The school itself is small for its grade band, with enrollment distributed fairly evenly across the nine grade levels. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. The student body is predominantly white, with small numbers of students identifying as multiracial, Black, Hispanic, or Asian. Data on individualized education programs and English learner status was not available, so those populations cannot be characterized here. A parent wanting to understand special education or language-support services would need to ask the school directly.
On state assessments, the picture is genuinely mixed and varies sharply by grade and subject. In English language arts, proficiency rises impressively through the middle grades before a notable dip in seventh grade. Third grade reading results are low, fourth and sixth grade stand out as relative bright spots, and eighth grade lands in a middling range. In mathematics, third grade is the clear weak spot with only a small fraction of students reaching proficiency, but results climb steadily through the upper grades, with the majority of eighth graders scoring proficient or above. Science results are a bright spot: fifth grade science proficiency is very high, and eighth grade science is solidly above midpoint. A parent may want to look into the third grade math and seventh grade ELA results further with the school, as these stand out as the weakest points in an otherwise uneven but sometimes strong profile. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is unclear whether these patterns are stable or shifting over time.
Because the school ends at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. That gap reflects the grade band, not a missing result. Similarly, no AP, dual-credit, or career-pathway data appears in the available materials, which is typical for a K-8 campus. Program offerings beyond the standard curriculum were not provided. Staffing, attendance, discipline, and course-access data were also absent from the available sources, so questions about class sizes, teacher experience, or disciplinary climate would need to go to the district or school office.
The housing market around Tishomingo is affordable relative to both state and national benchmarks. Home values sit well below the Mississippi statewide figure and far below the national figure, and recent values have edged downward slightly. Rental data was not available. The price-to-income ratio suggests that owning a home here is within reach for many working families compared with much of the country, though mortgage rates nationally remain elevated. The town's economic base is limited; no major employers were identified in available search results beyond municipal utilities and the school itself. Families considering the area should understand that employment options within the town are narrow, and many residents likely commute to Iuka or other nearby communities.
The district brief turned up no recently reported parent-relevant changes with lasting impact, so nothing about reorganization, bond issues, or program shifts could be added here. That absence means the account is necessarily static, reflecting a snapshot rather than a trajectory.
What Tishomingo Elementary appears to offer is a small, community-rooted K-8 pathway with uneven but sometimes strong academic results, particularly in science and upper-grade math and ELA. Its weak spots are real, especially in the earliest tested grade for math and in seventh grade ELA. The setting is rural and quiet, with strong outdoor recreation nearby and housing that remains comparatively affordable. For a family drawn to small-town life in northeast Mississippi, the school bears closer conversation about how it supports its youngest learners and its seventh graders, and about services for students with specialized needs that the available data does not capture.
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