Pearl Upper School

Pearl Upper School, a medium-sized K-5 school in PEARL, Mississippi, operated by Pearl Public Schools, instructs 608 students, covering grades 4 through 5. Compared to the state average of about 446 students per school, that is 36% above typical.

Pearl Public Schools runs 5 schools in total, collectively educating 4,258 students. Pearl Upper School is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, Pearl Upper School reports that the largest single group is White at 46%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest comes out to 35% Black, 12% Hispanic, 5% multiracial. By comparison, Rankin County as a whole is about 71% White, so the school skews considerably less White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, The school reports having 43 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.0:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 15.9:1 average. An estimated 69% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Rankin County runs at roughly 50%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

In the surrounding community, Rankin County reports that the typical household earns roughly $79,357 per year, 34% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. Pearl Upper School is one of 34 public schools in Rankin County (combined enrollment of about 22,454 students).

Pearl Jr High School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.7 miles from this campus. 6 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

The school occupies a residential site.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Pearl Upper School has decreased 13%, going from 699 students in 2018 to 608 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 54% to 46% across the same window. Class-load math has narrowed: from 17.6:1 in 2018 to 14.0:1 in 2025.

On this page, members of the Pearl Upper School community share and discuss classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.