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Schools›Mississippi›Columbus
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·COLUMBUS MUNICIPAL SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 280120001380

Columbus Middle School

175 Hwy 373, Columbus, MS 39705 · (662) 241-7300 · Lowndes County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE33-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL597 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 10% of Mississippi public middle schools
  • DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
  • DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
  • ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.

Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Mississippi public middle schools

Enrollment
597
Middle
DISTRICT 430 · STATE 452
Student : Teacher
11.6:1
51 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.0:1 · STATE 13.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
100%
595 students
DISTRICT 100% · STATE 80%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.

Enrollment by grade, 2024-25

GradeStudentsShare
Grade 620434%
Grade 717930%
Grade 821436%
Student demographics
13%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 14% · STATE 62% · US 70%
White
132%
DISTRICT 3% · STATE 40% · US 43%
Hispanic
142%
DISTRICT 3% · STATE 7% · US 30%
Black
55693%
DISTRICT 92% · STATE 45% · US 15%
Asian
20%
DISTRICT 1% · STATE 1% · US 6%
Two+
122%
DISTRICT 2% · STATE 6% · US 5%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Male
29750%
Female
30050%

School pathway

Feeds from
Cook Elementary SchoolPK–05Fairview Elementary SchoolPK–05Franklin AcademyPK–05Sale Elementary SchoolPK–05Stokes Beard Elementary SchoolPK–05
Based on grade levels within Columbus Municipal School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.

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Test scores

MAAP 2024-25 . % Proficient + Advanced
English Language Arts
22.4%
MS avg 45.9% . +0.5pp since 2023
Math
27.6%
MS avg 52.8% . -2.0pp since 2023

What this means: On the MAAP, Mississippi's statewide test, about 22 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 28 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Mississippi schools, those numbers are about 46 and 53. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.

MAAP results by year

School yearEnglish Language ArtsMath
2024-2522.4%27.6%
2023-2421.9%29.6%
% Proficient + Advanced, all students and all tested grades.
Source: MAAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →

BeatsExpectations

Demographically-adjusted score · methodology
Tier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of MS schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
29.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.3%
based on MS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-14.9pp
below demographic expectation

What this means: About 29% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 44% typical for Mississippi schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.

BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →

Schools most like Columbus Middle School

Columbus Middle School's state test result (29.3% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.

SchoolStudentsLow-incomeProficient
Columbus Middle School this school59799.7%29.3%
Cardozo Middle School
Jackson
531100.0%16.7%
Powell Middle School
Jackson
70499.6%15.2%
Northwest Middle School
Meridian
484100.0%31.7%
Smilow Prep
Jackson
52199.8%35.7%
Magnolia Middle School
Meridian
440100.0%32.8%
Matched among Mississippi middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.

Where Columbus Middle School ranks

Among middle schools
MeasureThis schoolIn Mississippi
State test proficiency
ranked highest first
29.3%#158 of 176
Math proficiency
ranked highest first
27.6%#152 of 181
▲ 3
Reading proficiency
ranked highest first
22.4%#151 of 181
▲ 2
Enrollment
ranked largest first
597#41 of 186
Students per teacher
ranked fewest first
11.6:1#28 of 163
Diversity index
ranked most diverse first
13.1%#147 of 164
Free and reduced lunch
ranked highest share first
99.7%#54 of 184
Enrollment change since 2017-18
ranked steepest decline first
-30.8%#20 of 119
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.

4-year change

SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25
Enrollment
597
-209 (-26%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
11.6:1
was 14.9:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Enrollment and staffing by year

School yearStudentsTeachers (FTE)Students per teacherFree and reduced lunch
2024-2559751.311.6:1100% (595)
2023-2458047.312.3:1100% (580)
2022-236675013.3:1100% (667)
2020-218065414.9:1100% (806)
2017-1886359.114.6:1100% (863)
2015-168796713.1:1100% (879)
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Columbus Middle School.

About Columbus Middle School

Columbus Middle School is a mid-sized middle school serving families in Columbus, Mississippi. It had 597 students in 2024-25, spanning grades 6 through 8. Middle schools in Mississippi have about 452 students on average; enrollment here is 32% higher.

Columbus Municipal School District, which runs Columbus Middle School, has 7 schools and 3,011 students.

The share of students at Columbus Middle School who are Black is 93%. Smaller groups are 2% Hispanic, 2% White, and 2% multiracial. County-wide, 44% of Lowndes County residents are Black. A diversity index of 13% means there is a 13% chance two randomly chosen students at Columbus Middle School are from different groups.

The school lists 51.3 full-time-equivalent teachers and a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.6:1. Statewide, middle schools in Mississippi average 13.7:1. Free or reduced-price lunch covers 100% of the student body. For comparison, public schools in Lowndes County average 75%.

Among Mississippi public middle schools, Columbus Middle School outscored 10%, which works out to a D on the allk12 Grade.

Columbus Middle School falls short of its prediction by 14.9 points. The model expects 44.3% for a school with its free or reduced-price lunch share in Mississippi; the school's rate is 29.3%.

In Lowndes County, median household income comes to about $53,812, roughly 28% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 15%. The county's public schools total 20, with about 8,512 students.

Cook Elementary School is the nearest public school to Columbus Middle School, about 3.1 miles away. Counting only straight-line distance, 3 other public schools are within five miles. On proficiency, Columbus Middle School is behind the 41.1% nearby average, ranking 8th of 8.

The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Town: Remote, meaning it is in a town far from an urbanized area.

In 2020-21, Columbus Middle School enrolled 806 students. By 2024-25, that number had fallen to 597. The student-to-teacher ratio dropped from 14.9:1 in 2020-21 to 11.6:1 in 2024-25.

Parents, students, and staff can share information on athletics, class schedules, and weather closures here. Members of the school community can share what they know.

Lowndes County at a glance

View full county profile
Population
57,838
Census ACS
Median income
$53,812
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
28%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
15%
Below federal line
Schools in county
20
8,512 students

Quick facts

School name
Columbus Middle School
District
Columbus Municipal School District
Address
175 Hwy 373, Columbus, MS 39705
Phone
(662) 241-7300
County
Lowndes County
Level
Middle
Grade range
06–08
Total enrollment
597
Teachers (FTE)
51
Student–teacher ratio
11.6:1
Free and reduced lunch
595 (100%)
Locale
33-Town: Remote
NCES ID
280120001380
Charter school
No
Virtual school
No

Related schools

Other schools in Columbus Municipal School District
Other schools in Columbus
Other Columbus Middle schools

3 other US public schools in 4 states are named Columbus Middle. Columbus Middle School is the 2nd largest of the 4.

Nearby schools

Frequently asked questions

About Columbus Middle School
How many students attend Columbus Middle School?
Columbus Middle School enrolls approximately 597 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Columbus Middle School serve?
Columbus Middle School serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at Columbus Middle School?
Approximately 11.6:1 students per teacher at Columbus Middle School.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Columbus Middle School?
At Columbus Middle School, the student body is approximately 2% White, 2% Hispanic, 93% Black, 0% Asian, 2% Two or more.
What district is Columbus Middle School in?
Columbus Middle School is part of Columbus Municipal School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.
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