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What's the vibe like in the hallways at PETAL ELEMENTARY right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
636
Elementary
DISTRICT 826 · STATE 446
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PETAL SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 280353001330
Petal Elementary 3-4
1179 Hwy 42 E, Petal, MS 39465 · (601) 584-9400 · Forrest County
GRADES 03–04ELEMENTARY23-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL636 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 82% of Mississippi public elementary schools
- A-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
13.3:1
48 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.5:1 · STATE 15.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
60%
382 students
DISTRICT 60% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 324 | 51% |
| Grade 4 | 312 | 49% |
Student demographics
49%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 49% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Petal School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
MAAP 2024-25 . % Proficient + AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
62.8%
MS avg 45.9% . -10.6pp since 2023
Math
76.5%
MS avg 52.8% . +5.7pp since 2023
What this means: On the MAAP, Mississippi's statewide test, about 63 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 77 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 11 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
MAAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 62.8% | 76.5% |
| 2023-24 | 73.4% | 70.8% |
% 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
70.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
64.2%
based on MS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+6.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 71% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 64% 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 Petal Elementary 3-4
Petal Elementary 3-4's state test result (70.9% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Petal Elementary 3-4 this school | 636 | 60.1% | 70.9% |
| Vancleave Lower Elementary Vancleave | 686 | 59.6% | 69.0% |
| Hamilton School HAMILTON | 557 | 60.0% | 68.3% |
| Lafayette Elementary School Oxford | 776 | 53.1% | 72.5% |
| Mooreville Elementary School MOOREVILLE | 722 | 54.4% | 74.4% |
| Lafayette Upper Elementary School Oxford | 803 | 52.8% | 69.9% |
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 Petal Elementary 3-4 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Mississippi | In Forrest County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 70.9% | #74 of 428 | #2 of 12 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 76.5% | #44 of 439 ▲ 36 | #1 of 12 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 62.8% | #92 of 439 ▼ 44 | #4 of 12 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 636 | #81 of 453 | #2 of 12 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.3:1 | #85 of 408 | #6 of 12 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 49.3% | #180 of 409 | #7 of 12 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 60.1% | #377 of 444 | #12 of 12 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -4.2% | #256 of 296 | #7 of 9 |
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
636
+88 (+16%) vs 2020
0% since 2010-11, when it was 635
Student : Teacher
13.3:1
was 14.1:1
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 | 636 | 47.7 | 13.3:1 | 60% (382) |
| 2023-24 | 631 | 48.5 | 13.0:1 | 59% (373) |
| 2022-23 | 634 | 46.2 | 13.7:1 | 100% (631) |
| 2020-21 | 548 | 39 | 14.1:1 | 99% (545) |
| 2017-18 | 664 | 40.1 | 16.6:1 | 57% (379) |
| 2015-16 | 611 | 37 | 16.5:1 | 66% (406) |
| 2010-11 | 635 | 36 | 17.6:1 | 63% (402) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Petal Elementary 3-4.
About Petal Elementary 3-4
Petal Elementary 3-4 is a mid-sized elementary school in Mississippi, with an address in Petal. It teaches 636 students in grades 3 through 4. Elementary schools in Mississippi have about 446 students on average; enrollment here is 43% higher.
Petal School District is responsible for 5 schools, Petal Elementary 3-4 included, with 4,253 students in all.
More than half of the students at Petal Elementary 3-4 are White (69%). The rest of enrollment is 16% Black, 8% Hispanic, and 7% multiracial. Census estimates put the White share of Forrest County's population at about 57%. The diversity index for Petal Elementary 3-4 is 49%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Its staff includes 47.7 full-time-equivalent teachers, for about 13.3 students per teacher. Compared with the 15.9:1 average for elementary schools in Mississippi, this school's ratio is lower. Roughly 60% of students at Petal Elementary 3-4 can receive free or reduced-price lunch. Among public schools in Forrest County, the average eligibility rate is 79%.
Among Mississippi public elementary schools, Petal Elementary 3-4 outscored 82%, which works out to an A- on the allk12 Grade.
The model predicts 64.2% for a school in Mississippi with Petal Elementary 3-4's free or reduced-price lunch share. Petal Elementary 3-4 posts 70.9%.
Forrest County is the school's county. There, the median household earns about $53,640 a year, roughly 31% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 16% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Public schools in Forrest County number 21, with about 10,857 students.
The closest school to Petal Elementary 3-4 is Petal High School, located about 0.1 miles away. Petal Elementary 3-4 is one of several public schools in the area, with 4 others within five miles. Petal Elementary 3-4's average proficiency of 70.9% compares with 63.1% for its nearest scored neighbors.
Petal Elementary 3-4 is in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population under 100,000, a location NCES labels Suburb: Small.
The school's student count increased 16% between the 2020-21 and 2024-25 school years.
People can post here about open houses, carpools, and field trips and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Forrest County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
78,272
Census ACS
Median income
$53,640
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
31%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
16%
Below federal line
Schools in county
21
10,857 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Petal School District
- Petal High SchoolHigh · 1,324 students
- Petal Primary SchoolElementary · 1,016 students
- Petal Middle SchoolMiddle · 645 students
- Petal Upper ElementaryMiddle · 632 students
Other schools in Petal
- Petal High SchoolHigh · 1,324 students
- Petal Primary SchoolElementary · 1,016 students
- Petal Middle SchoolMiddle · 645 students
- Petal Upper ElementaryMiddle · 632 students
- Runnelstown SchoolElementary · 173 students
Nearby schools
- Petal High School0.1 mi · 1,324
- Petal Primary School0.6 mi · 1,016
- Petal Middle School3.4 mi · 645
- Petal Upper Elementary3.4 mi · 632
- Runnelstown School5.6 mi · 173
- Hawkins Elementary5.8 mi · 283
Frequently asked questions
About Petal Elementary 3-4What is the total enrollment at Petal Elementary 3-4?
Petal Elementary 3-4 enrolls approximately 636 students in grades 03-04.
What grades does Petal Elementary 3-4 serve?
Petal Elementary 3-4 serves grades 03-04.
How many teachers does Petal Elementary 3-4 have?
Petal Elementary 3-4 employs 48 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.3:1.
What is the student diversity at Petal Elementary 3-4?
Student demographics at Petal Elementary 3-4 are roughly 69% White, 8% Hispanic, 16% Black, 0% Asian, 7% Two or more.
What district is Petal Elementary 3-4 in?
Petal Elementary 3-4 is part of Petal School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.