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Best kept secret at PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,414
Elementary
DISTRICT 1,043 · STATE 446
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PEARL RIVER COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 280354000686
PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR
116 Alphabet Ave, CARRIERE, MS 39426 · (601) 799-4519 · Pearl River County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL1,414 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 70% of Mississippi public elementary schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+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
16.8:1
84 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.5:1 · STATE 15.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
66%
935 students
DISTRICT 61% · STATE 80%
Community
1
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 33 | 2% |
| Kindergarten | 191 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 230 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 240 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 257 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 215 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 246 | 17% |
| Ungraded | 2 | 0% |
This year's kindergarten class (191) is 22% smaller than its 5th grade class (246).
Student demographics
28%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 28% · 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
55.1%
MS avg 45.9% . -3.0pp since 2023
Math
62.2%
MS avg 52.8% . +3.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the MAAP, Mississippi's statewide test, about 55 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 62 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Mississippi schools, those numbers are about 46 and 53. Reading and writing scores are down about 3 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 4 points.
MAAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 55.1% | 62.2% |
| 2023-24 | 58.1% | 58.7% |
% 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
65.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
61.1%
based on MS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 66% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 61% 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 PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR
PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR's state test result (65.8% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR this school | 1,414 | 66.1% | 65.8% |
| South Jones Elementary School Ellisville | 1,129 | 62.4% | 64.5% |
| East Union Attendance Center BLUE SPRINGS | 950 | 67.3% | 75.4% |
| Itawamba Attendance Center Fulton | 1,129 | 67.7% | 61.9% |
| Petal Primary School Petal | 1,016 | 63.7% | 70.8% |
| Neshoba Central Elementary School PHILADELPHIA | 1,419 | 67.5% | 71.7% |
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 PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Mississippi | In Pearl River County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 65.8% | #123 of 428 | #2 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 62.2% | #132 of 439 ▲ 36 | #2 of 8 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 55.1% | #158 of 439 ▲ 14 | #4 of 8 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,414 | #3 of 453 | #1 of 8 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.8:1 | #335 of 408 | #4 of 8 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 28.2% | #292 of 409 | #7 of 8 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 66.1% | #354 of 444 | #5 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +83.2% | #1 of 90 | 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
1,414
-9 (-1%) vs 2020
+83% since 1990-91, when it was 773
Student : Teacher
16.8:1
was 17.4:1
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 | 1,414 | 84 | 16.8:1 | 66% (935) |
| 2023-24 | 1,491 | 102.5 | 14.5:1 | 66% (988) |
| 2022-23 | 1,501 | 100.8 | 14.9:1 | 100% (1,498) |
| 2020-21 | 1,423 | 82 | 17.4:1 | 100% (1,423) |
| 2017-18 | 772 | 43 | 18.0:1 | 100% (772) |
| 2015-16 | 731 | 38 | 19.2:1 | 68% (494) |
| 2010-11 | 736 | 47 | 15.7:1 | 68% (499) |
| 2000-01 | 1,577 | 75 | 21.0:1 | 54% (857) |
| 1990-91 | 773 | 34 | 22.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR.
About PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR
PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR, located in CARRIERE, Mississippi, is a large elementary school. The school's 1,414 students are in pre-K through 5. Enrollment is 217% higher than the average for elementary schools in Mississippi, which is about 446.
PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR is one of the 3 schools that make up Pearl River County School District (3,128 students in total).
About 84% of the student body at PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR is White. The remaining shares are 8% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 3% Black. PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR's diversity index is 28%, against a US figure of 70%.
Federal staffing data show 84 full-time-equivalent teachers at PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR and a ratio of 16.8:1. The school has more students per teacher than the 15.9:1 average for elementary schools in Mississippi. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 66% of enrollment. That tracks the 65% average for public schools in Pearl River County.
Measured against Mississippi public elementary schools, PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR receives a B+. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate on state tests with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR, the prediction is 61.1% and the result is 65.8%.
Among Pearl River County residents, the median household income is $58,135, about 17% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 14%. Besides PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR, Pearl River County has 19 other public schools.
PEARL RIVER CENTRAL JUNIOR HIGH is the closest public school, about 2.8 miles away in a straight line. In all, 2 other public schools sit within five miles of PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR. By average proficiency, PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR is 2nd among 8 schools close by.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Rural: Distant: in rural territory some distance from an urban area.
Enrollment was essentially flat over 4 years: 1,423 in 2020-21, 1,414 in 2024-25.
Topics for discussion here include science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
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 Pearl River County School District
- PEARL RIVER CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 952 students
- PEARL RIVER CENTRAL JUNIOR HIGHMiddle · 762 students
- CENTER FOR ALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONHigh
Other schools in CARRIERE
- PEARL RIVER CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 952 students
- PEARL RIVER CENTRAL JUNIOR HIGHMiddle · 762 students
- CENTER FOR ALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONHigh
Nearby schools
- PEARL RIVER CENTRAL JUNIOR HIGH2.8 mi · 762
- PEARL RIVER CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL2.9 mi · 952
- Roseland Park Elementary8.9 mi · 370
- Picayune Memorial High School9.6 mi · 940
- Picayune Junior High School9.7 mi · 465
- West Side Elementary9.8 mi · 444
Frequently asked questions
About PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTARHow many students attend PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR?
PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR enrolls approximately 1,414 students in grades PK-05.
Is PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR an elementary, middle, or high school?
PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR have?
PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR employs 84 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.8:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR?
At PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR, the student body is approximately 84% White, 8% Hispanic, 3% Black, 0% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Is PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR public or private?
PEARL RIVER CENTRAL ELEMENTAR is a public K-12 school, overseen by Pearl River County School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.