Buckatunna Elementary School, Buckatunna MS

Original Research by School Decision on Buckatunna Elementary School

Buckatunna Elementary School sits along U.S. Highway 45 in the southeast corner of Wayne County, Mississippi, just west of the Alabama line. It serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and operates as part of the Wayne County School District. The surrounding community is a small, rural, unincorporated place in the Piney Woods region, with no distinct downtown, no sidewalks, and no concentrated commercial activity. The school itself functions as the primary civic and social anchor for families in the area, a role that gives it a centrality in community life that extends beyond academics.

The student body is modest in size for a preK-through-eighth-grade campus. Every enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the economic profile of the surrounding area. The school's racial composition is predominantly Black, with a substantial White minority and small numbers of Hispanic and multiracial students. Data on English-learner enrollment and individualized education programs was not reported, so those portions of the picture remain unclear.

On Mississippi's MAAP assessments, Buckatunna shows a mixed academic profile with a genuine area of strength in science. Fifth-grade science proficiency is notably strong, and eighth-grade science is solid as well. This suggests the school's science instruction is reaching students effectively across the tested grades. Mathematics results are moderate and uneven across grade levels, with the strongest showing in seventh grade and weaker performance in the third grade. English language arts results tend to run lower than math, with the fifth grade standing out as the best ELA result and the third and seventh grades landing well below where a family would want them. A parent looking at the early-grade reading and math results may want to ask the school what interventions are in place for students who are not yet proficient, particularly in the primary grades.

Because Buckatunna does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report and no ACT or advanced-coursework data tied to this campus. The school's academic picture is entirely about the foundation years.

The housing market in the Buckatunna area is affordable relative to both state and national benchmarks. Home values sit well below the Mississippi state average and far below national figures, and the price-to-income ratio is favorable. Rental data was not available. The community is car-dependent by nature, with housing dispersed along the highway corridor and no public transit, library, or park system evident from available sources. Major employers were not identified in public sources, which is consistent with the area's sparse rural character. The community appears stable or slowly declining, with no visible growth initiatives or new developments on the horizon.

Wayne County School District-level changes or strategic priorities were not available in the materials reviewed, so there is little to report on recent district-level shifts that might affect this campus. A parent or resident interested in the district's direction would need to consult district communications directly.

What Buckatunna Elementary offers is a small, community-anchored rural school with a science program that stands out and a preK-through-eighth structure that keeps students in one setting for their entire elementary and middle-school career. The economic challenges facing the student body are real and universal within the school, and the ELA results in several grades are a soft spot worth probing. For families already rooted in this corner of Wayne County, the school is the natural and central option, and its science instruction is something to build on.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 41% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 53% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 540%

School 40% · District 27% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 28% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 760%

School 60% · District 53% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 37% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 47% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 39%

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 556%

School 56% · District 41% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 634%

School 34% · District 31% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 728%

School 28% · District 34% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 40% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median

Science

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 46% · ▲ 26 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 50% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median

This schoolWAYNE 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.