The top reported proficiency rate is 34% in Science. The lowest is 15% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Finch Elementary
Finch Elementary was an elementary school in Centreville, Mississippi, operated by the Wilkinson County School District. The school is now closed. The most recent academic data available comes from the final year of reported results, so what follows is a portrait of the school as it was in its last operating year, not a current option for enrollment.
The school served the elementary grades that take state assessments in Mississippi, and its tested grades were third through fifth. State assessment results from that final year, drawn from Mississippi's MAAP test, show a school where most students were not yet reaching proficiency. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above was low across all three grades, and it declined as students moved from third grade into fifth. English language arts results were stronger relative to math, with roughly a third of third and fourth graders reaching proficiency, though that share also fell by fifth grade. Fifth-grade science results landed in a similar range to the ELA numbers. Participation rates were not reported in the data we received. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say whether these results were improving, declining, or stable over time.
Enrollment figures, demographic breakdowns, and information on special populations such as students with disabilities or English learners were not available in the data provided. The same is true for discipline records, course access, staffing ratios, and attendance figures. Without these, a full picture of the school's peer environment and student support structure is not possible from this data alone.
Centreville sits in rural southwest Mississippi, straddling Wilkinson and Amite counties. The town grew in the late nineteenth century around a railroad line that has since been removed and replaced with a memorial park. It has a traditional small-town grid centered on Main Street, with a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places featuring Colonial Revival, Bungalow, and Queen Anne architecture. Publicly reported sources describe the area as a place where most residents own their homes, though median household income is roughly half the national average and the poverty rate is high. Many residents commute to work elsewhere, with average travel times well above the national norm, and the town is part of the McComb micropolitan area. Centreville has been experiencing population decline rather than growth, with falling employment and very low residential turnover.
Housing in the area is very inexpensive compared with both state and national benchmarks. Home values in the school's zip code sit well below the Mississippi median and far below the national median, and recent values have been declining rather than appreciating. Rent data was not available. The price-to-income ratio suggests that homes here cost less relative to local earnings than the national norm, though local incomes are also lower than the national average. For families tied to the area by work, family, or other reasons, housing costs are likely to be among the most affordable in the state.
Because Finch Elementary is closed, families in the Wilkinson County portion of Centreville would now look to other schools in the Wilkinson County School District. The locale brief indicates that students in the Amite County portion of town attend Amite County School District schools, and Centreville Academy, a private school, is also located in town. The district brief did not surface any parent-relevant changes or recent initiatives in Wilkinson County School District, so we left that out rather than speculate.
For a parent trying to understand Finch Elementary, the essential fact is that it is no longer operating. Its last available results showed a school where students struggled most in mathematics and where English and science outcomes were modest, with proficiency declining in the upper elementary grades. Whether those patterns reflected broader challenges in the district or conditions specific to this school cannot be determined from the data available. A parent interested in what happened to students and staff after the closure, or where current students now attend, would want to contact the Wilkinson County School District directly.
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