West Union Attendance Center, Myrtle MS

Original Research by School Decision on West Union Attendance Center

West Union Attendance Center sits along State Highway 30 just west of Myrtle, a very small, primarily residential town in Union County, Mississippi. The town grew up as a railroad stop after the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Railroad came through in the 1880s, and it retains a quiet rural character today. Interstate 22 passes along the southern edge of town, and New Albany lies a short drive to the southeast. Publicly reported sources describe a community with limited commercial activity, flat population trends over recent decades, and a slight projected decline going forward. Housing here is affordable compared with state and national benchmarks, with typical home values well below the national figure and a price-to-income ratio that sits comfortably in territory most families would call attainable.

The school itself is a pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade campus, the kind of combined attendance center common in rural Mississippi, where students stay in one building complex from early childhood through graduation. Enrollment is moderate for a school covering that full grade span. The student body is predominantly white, with small numbers of Black, Hispanic, and multiracial students. About half the enrollment qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on special-education identification and English-learner status was not available in the provided records, so those populations could not be characterized here.

On Mississippi's MAAP assessments, West Union posts strong results across math, English language arts, and science. In math, the large majority of students in every tested grade meet or exceed proficiency, and several grades see nearly all students reaching that bar. Third and sixth grade are particular standouts in math, and eighth-grade math proficiency is among the highest in the school. Science results are equally strong, with fifth and eighth grades both showing the vast majority of students proficient. ELA results are solid, with most grades above the level where concern would arise, though seventh-grade ELA sits lower than the rest, and a parent may want to look into that further with the school. Participation rates were not reported in the data provided, so it was not possible to confirm full testing participation. No multi-year trend data was available, which means there is no way to tell from these records whether these results represent steady performance, recent improvement, or a peak.

The Union County School District, which operates West Union, has publicly reported a workforce development initiative that includes career awareness curriculum, job shadowing, and the IMPACTO internship program, along with expanded career and technical education opportunities. How those district-level programs translate into specific course offerings at West Union could not be determined from the available data, as no course-access or program-detail records were provided. Similarly, no graduation rate, staffing information, discipline data, or civil-rights data was included in the records reviewed, so those dimensions of school life could not be assessed.

What the data does show is a small rural school with consistent academic strength across core subjects, serving a close-knit community where housing costs are modest and the town's identity remains tied to its history and its schools. For a family weighing this school, the academic results are a clear positive, and the pre-K-through-twelve campus structure means stability and continuity through a child's entire education. The gaps in available data, particularly around graduation outcomes, advanced course access, and student support services, are real, and filling them in would require going directly to the district or the school for more detail.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

80-89%Cohort of 43 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 391%

School 91% · District 81% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 41 pts above state median

Grade 477%

School 77% · District 77% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 581%

School 81% · District 71% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median

Grade 691%

School 91% · District 82% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 40 pts above state median

Grade 776%

School 76% · District 77% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 24 pts above state median

Grade 895%

School 95% · District 65% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 51 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 388%

School 88% · District 76% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 40 pts above state median

Grade 472%

School 72% · District 68% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median

Grade 573%

School 73% · District 70% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 22 pts above state median

Grade 688%

School 88% · District 64% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 46 pts above state median

Grade 768%

School 68% · District 56% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median

Grade 875%

School 75% · District 54% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median

Science

Grade 590%

School 90% · District 84% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median

Grade 890%

School 90% · District 71% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 37 pts above state median

This schoolUNION 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.