Enrollment
324
Elementary
DISTRICT 326 · STATE 446
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PICAYUNE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 280363000694
Nicholson Elementary
1887 Hwy 11 South, Picayune, MS 39466 · (601) 798-6309 · Pearl River County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL324 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 39% of Mississippi public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats 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 elementary schools
Student : Teacher
14.7:1
22 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 95.5:1 · STATE 15.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
85%
274 students
DISTRICT 79% · STATE 80%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 58 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 37 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 41 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 51 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 51 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 49 | 15% |
| Grade 6 | 37 | 11% |
This year's kindergarten class (58) is 57% larger than its 6th grade class (37).
Student demographics
66%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 58% · STATE 62% · US 70%
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
Test scores
MAAP 2024-25 . % Proficient + AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
44.0%
MS avg 45.9% . +0.0pp since 2023
Math
43.5%
MS avg 52.8% . -0.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the MAAP, Mississippi's statewide test, about 44 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 44 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 have held steady.
MAAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 44.0% | 43.5% |
| 2023-24 | 44.0% | 43.7% |
% Proficient + Advanced, all students and all tested grades.
Source: MAAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
51.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
51.9%
based on MS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 51% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 52% typical for Mississippi schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Mississippi's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Nicholson Elementary
Nicholson Elementary's state test result (51.3% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholson Elementary this school | 324 | 84.6% | 51.3% |
| Richland Elementary Richland | 369 | 78.9% | 67.2% |
| Richland Upper Elementary Richland | 480 | 77.9% | 59.6% |
| Ripley Elementary School Ripley | 611 | 84.9% | 65.1% |
| College Park Elementary Gautier | 303 | 73.6% | 49.6% |
| Nichols Elementary School Biloxi | 203 | 77.3% | 59.7% |
Matched among Mississippi elementary 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 Nicholson Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Mississippi | In Pearl River County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 51.3% | #253 of 428 | #6 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 43.5% | #273 of 439 ▲ 4 | #6 of 8 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.0% | #255 of 439 ▲ 38 | #8 of 8 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 324 | #303 of 453 | #6 of 8 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.7:1 | #178 of 408 | #2 of 8 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 65.9% | #33 of 409 | #1 of 8 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 84.6% | #232 of 444 | #1 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -19.8% | #105 of 296 | N/A |
Ranked against other public elementary 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 2024-25Enrollment
324
+5 (+2%) vs 2020
-38% since 1990-91, when it was 525
Student : Teacher
14.7:1
was 12.8:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 324 | 22.1 | 14.7:1 | 85% (274) |
| 2023-24 | 363 | 30.4 | 11.9:1 | 100% (363) |
| 2022-23 | 363 | 28.8 | 12.6:1 | 100% (363) |
| 2020-21 | 319 | 25 | 12.8:1 | 100% (319) |
| 2017-18 | 404 | 27.5 | 14.7:1 | 100% (404) |
| 2015-16 | 407 | 30 | 13.6:1 | 100% (407) |
| 2010-11 | 482 | 28 | 17.2:1 | 89% (429) |
| 2000-01 | 485 | 24 | 20.2:1 | 59% (284) |
| 1990-91 | 525 | 27 | 19.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Nicholson Elementary.
About Nicholson Elementary
Among the schools in Picayune, Mississippi, is Nicholson Elementary, a small elementary school. The school enrolls 324 students, from kindergarten through 6. An average school in this group (elementary schools in Mississippi) has about 446 students.
The Picayune School District system has 8 schools and 3,359 students.
By race and ethnicity, the largest group at Nicholson Elementary is White (48%). Other students are 26% Black, 21% Hispanic, and 5% multiracial. That is lower than the 80% White share among all Pearl River County residents. By the diversity index, Nicholson Elementary comes in at 66%.
The teaching staff at Nicholson Elementary is 22.1 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 14.7:1. The average ratio among elementary schools in Mississippi is 15.9:1, higher than at this school. About 85% of students, or 274, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. That rate is above the 65% average among public schools in Pearl River County.
allk12 grades Nicholson Elementary a C+. The grade compares the school only with Mississippi public elementary schools, because each state gives its own test.
After adjusting for student poverty, Nicholson Elementary lands between the top and bottom 10% of Mississippi schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 51.3%; the prediction is 51.9%.
County data help place the school in context: in Pearl River County, median household income is about $58,135, about 17% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 14%. Nicholson Elementary is among the 20 public schools in Pearl River County.
Early Head Start Nicholson is the closest public school, about 0.2 miles away in a straight line. Nicholson Elementary is one of several public schools in the area, with 7 others within five miles. Nearby schools with test data average 54.0% proficiency; Nicholson Elementary posts 51.3%.
Under the NCES locale system, Nicholson Elementary is Town: Distant.
The student count changed little between 2020-21 (319) and 2024-25 (324). The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 12.8:1 to 14.7:1.
Topics for discussion here include sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Pearl River County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
57,458
Census ACS
Median income
$58,135
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
17%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
14%
Below federal line
Schools in county
20
8,456 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Picayune School District
- Picayune Memorial High SchoolHigh · 940 students
- Picayune Junior High SchoolMiddle · 465 students
- West Side ElementaryElementary · 444 students
- Roseland Park ElementaryElementary · 370 students
- South Side Lower ElementaryElementary · 320 students
- South Side Upper ElementaryElementary · 310 students
Other schools in Picayune
- Picayune Memorial High SchoolHigh · 940 students
- Picayune Junior High SchoolMiddle · 465 students
- West Side ElementaryElementary · 444 students
- Roseland Park ElementaryElementary · 370 students
- West Hancock ElementaryElementary · 349 students
- South Side Lower ElementaryElementary · 320 students
Other Nicholson Elementary schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named Nicholson Elementary. Nicholson Elementary is the 3rd largest of the 3.
- Nicholson Elementary SchoolMarietta, GA · 413 students
- Nicholson Elementary SchoolMontgomery, IL · 337 students
Nearby schools
- Early Head Start Nicholson0.2 mi · 186
- South Side Upper Elementary2.9 mi · 310
- South Side Lower Elementary3.0 mi · 320
- West Side Elementary3.4 mi · 444
- Picayune Junior High School3.5 mi · 465
- Picayune Memorial High School3.6 mi · 940
Frequently asked questions
About Nicholson ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Nicholson Elementary?
Nicholson Elementary enrolls approximately 324 students in grades KG-06.
What age range does Nicholson Elementary serve?
Nicholson Elementary serves students from grade KG through grade 06.
How many teachers does Nicholson Elementary have?
Nicholson Elementary employs 22 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.7:1.
What is the student diversity at Nicholson Elementary?
Student demographics at Nicholson Elementary are roughly 48% White, 21% Hispanic, 26% Black, 1% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Nicholson Elementary in?
Nicholson Elementary is part of Picayune School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.