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What's the biggest difference between South Pontotoc High School and what you expected?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
455
High
DISTRICT 472 · STATE 651
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PONTOTOC COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 280366000703
South Pontotoc High School
1523 South Pontotoc Rd, PONTOTOC, MS 38863 · (662) 489-5925 · Pontotoc County
GRADES 09–12HIGH43-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL455 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 87% of Mississippi public high schools
- B+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+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 high schools
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
37 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.8:1 · STATE 12.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
452 students
DISTRICT 99% · STATE 80%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 140 | 31% |
| Grade 10 | 106 | 23% |
| Grade 11 | 121 | 27% |
| Grade 12 | 88 | 19% |
Student demographics
31%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 43% · 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
48.5%
MS avg 45.9% . -2.3pp since 2023
Math
75.5%
MS avg 52.8% . +9.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the MAAP, Mississippi's statewide test, about 49 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 76 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 9 points.
MAAP results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 48.5% | 75.5% |
| 2023-24 | 50.8% | 66.4% |
% Proficient + Advanced, all students and all tested grades.
Source: MAAP. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of MS schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
66.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.4%
based on MS schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+22.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 67% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 44% typical for Mississippi schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 22 points, placing it in Mississippi's top 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 South Pontotoc High School
South Pontotoc High School's state test result (66.6% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Pontotoc High School this school | 455 | 99.3% | 66.6% |
| Seminary High SEMINARY | 382 | 99.2% | 60.3% |
| North Pontotoc High School ECRU | 488 | 99.4% | 72.6% |
| Greene County High School Leakesville | 446 | 99.3% | 76.7% |
| Union High School UNION | 280 | 98.9% | 80.2% |
| WEST MARION HIGH SCHOOL Foxworth | 347 | 99.1% | 61.0% |
Matched among Mississippi high 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 South Pontotoc High School ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Mississippi |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 66.6% | #59 of 192 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 75.5% | #58 of 199 ▲ 19 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 48.5% | #84 of 199 ▼ 16 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 455 | #116 of 203 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.3:1 | #81 of 192 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 31.4% | #138 of 192 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 99.3% | #58 of 194 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.5% | #50 of 121 |
Ranked against other public high 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
455
-55 (-11%) vs 2020
-65% since 1990-91, when it was 1,305
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
was 18.9:1
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 | 455 | 37.1 | 12.3:1 | 99% (452) |
| 2023-24 | 447 | 32.3 | 13.9:1 | 55% (244) |
| 2022-23 | 479 | 31.2 | 15.3:1 | 99% (476) |
| 2020-21 | 510 | 27 | 18.9:1 | 99% (507) |
| 2017-18 | 514 | 29.9 | 17.2:1 | 51% (261) |
| 2015-16 | 478 | 33 | 14.5:1 | 53% (252) |
| 2010-11 | 465 | 28 | 16.6:1 | 57% (264) |
| 2000-01 | 1,491 | 92 | 16.2:1 | 49% (725) |
| 1990-91 | 1,305 | 68 | 19.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for South Pontotoc High School.
About South Pontotoc High School
Students in PONTOTOC, Mississippi, attend South Pontotoc High School, a small high school. It is open to students in grades 9 through 12 and enrolls 455 students. That is 30% below the average of about 651 students for high schools in Mississippi.
PONTOTOC COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT oversees South Pontotoc High School and 6 other schools, with 3,465 students in total.
By race and ethnicity, South Pontotoc High School is 82% White. Enrollment also includes 9% Hispanic and 7% Black. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 31%.
For every teacher at South Pontotoc High School, there are about 12.3 students; the school has 37.1 full-time-equivalent teachers. It is about the same as the 12.6:1 average for high schools in Mississippi. There are 452 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 99% of enrollment. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Pontotoc County is 88%.
Among Mississippi public high schools, South Pontotoc High School outscored 87%, which works out to an A on the allk12 Grade.
Given its lunch-eligibility share, the predicted average proficiency rate across its state test results for South Pontotoc High School is 44.4%. It actually posts 66.6%, which is 22.2 points higher and in the top 10% of Mississippi schools.
The school's county is Pontotoc County. According to Census Bureau estimates, the median household earns about $51,484 a year, roughly 19% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 12% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Public schools in Pontotoc County number 14, with about 5,865 students.
South Pontotoc High School's nearest public school is South Pontotoc Elementary School (less than a tenth of a mile). Inside a five-mile radius, there are 3 other public schools. On average proficiency, South Pontotoc High School is 3rd of 9 nearby schools with test data.
NCES assigns South Pontotoc High School the locale Rural: Remote, meaning in rural territory far from an urban area.
Enrollment decreased by 11% across 4 years, from 510 in 2020-21 to 455 in 2024-25. The ratio of students to teachers went from 18.9:1 to 12.3:1 over the same years.
The allk12 page for South Pontotoc High School lets the school community talk about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. You can also rate the school on this page.
Pontotoc County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
31,550
Census ACS
Median income
$51,484
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
19%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
12%
Below federal line
Schools in county
14
5,865 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in PONTOTOC COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
- South Pontotoc Elementary SchoolElementary · 776 students
- North Pontotoc Elementary SchoolElementary · 762 students
- North Pontotoc High SchoolHigh · 488 students
- South Pontotoc Middle SchoolMiddle · 379 students
- North Pontotoc Middle SchoolMiddle · 308 students
- North Pontotoc Upper ElemMiddle · 297 students
Other schools in PONTOTOC
- South Pontotoc Elementary SchoolElementary · 776 students
- Pontotoc High SchoolHigh · 712 students
- Pontotoc Elementary SchoolElementary · 657 students
- South Pontotoc Middle SchoolMiddle · 379 students
- Pontotoc Jr High SchoolMiddle · 361 students
- DT Cox Elementary SchoolElementary · 354 students
Nearby schools
- South Pontotoc Elementary School0.0 mi · 776
- South Pontotoc Middle School0.0 mi · 379
- Pontotoc Elementary School4.5 mi · 657
- Pontotoc High School5.1 mi · 712
- Pontotoc Jr High School5.2 mi · 361
- Pontotoc Middle School5.3 mi · 316
Frequently asked questions
About South Pontotoc High SchoolHow many students attend South Pontotoc High School?
South Pontotoc High School enrolls approximately 455 students in grades 09-12.
Is South Pontotoc High School an elementary, middle, or high school?
South Pontotoc High School is a high school covering grades 09-12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at South Pontotoc High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at South Pontotoc High School is approximately 12.3:1 (37 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at South Pontotoc High School?
At South Pontotoc High School, the student body is approximately 82% White, 9% Hispanic, 7% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Two or more.
Who oversees South Pontotoc High School?
South Pontotoc High School is overseen by PONTOTOC COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT in Pontotoc County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.