NCES CCD 2024-25 6 schools MS

Best-Resourced Schools in Columbia, MS

Compiled from official source data by .

6 public K-12 schools in Columbia from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
6
Schools
2,153
Students
41.5/100
Avg Resource Index
11.8:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Compact system with teacher-dense staffing

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Columbia has more public-school enrollment than 15% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Columbia is a comparatively small school market by total enrollment, yet its average student-teacher ratio is lower than most cities in the national comparison set. Small scale can make that staffing pattern easier to sustain, but it can also limit the breadth of specialized programs available at any one campus. The school list below shows whether students are concentrated in one combined-grade campus or distributed across separate elementary, middle, and high-school settings.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

3 of Columbia's 6 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Economic need crosses separate district systems

100.0% of enrollment in reporting Columbia schools is eligible for free lunch, while the city list spans 2 districts. That pairing makes a citywide average especially easy to misread: the need measure follows students, but staffing decisions, calendars, program rules, and federal allocations are administered through separate district structures. The 34-point gap between Columbia Elementary School and Columbia High School shows how much reported resource capacity can vary inside the same municipal label. Compare schools within the same district first, then use the city view to see how those local systems differ.

City enrollment
Top 85%
School count
Top 79%
Resource Index average
53rd percentile
Teacher staffing
90th percentile

Columbia High School accounts for 22.5% of all Columbia public-school enrollment

That concentration means Columbia-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Columbia school enrollment varies 2.2× across entities

Columbia school enrollment ranges from 216 students (lowest) to 484 students (highest), a spread of 268 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous school portfolio for a city this size. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Columbia reports 100.0% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share is above 87.5%, so economic need is widespread across the measured student population. Title I operates under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA, 2015), but its statutory allocation uses additional LEA-level counts and rules not represented by this average. This percentage is an economic-need context measure; it does not establish a Title I award, show dollars received, or describe how funds are distributed among campuses.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Columbia student-teacher ratio is 11.8:1 — low (typically associated with smaller schools or per-school staffing investment that often correlates with stronger per-student supports)

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Columbia Elementary School 52
2. Columbia Primary School 48
3. Jefferson Middle School 48
4. East Marion Elementary School 44
5. East Marion High School 39
6. Columbia High School 18

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Columbia

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Columbia Primary School 57.2/100
  2. 2 Jefferson Middle School 57.1/100
  3. 3 Columbia Elementary School 55.1/100
  4. 4 Columbia High School 55.0/100
  5. 5 East Marion Elementary School 51.1/100

What do families ask about schools in Columbia?

Which Columbia school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Columbia Elementary School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Columbia schools in this federal-data comparison at 52/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Columbia, MS? ▼

Columbia has 6 public schools with a total enrollment of 2,153 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 11.8:1.

Other Cities in Mississippi

Jackson
58 schools
Gulfport
23 schools
Hattiesburg
18 schools
Meridian
18 schools
Olive Branch
14 schools
Biloxi
13 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Mississippi →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.