NCES CCD 2024-25 10 schools MS

Best-Resourced Schools in Southaven, MS

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

10
Schools
11,160
Students
30.9/100
Avg Resource Index
15.4:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Lean reported-resource profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Southaven has more public-school enrollment than 83% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Southaven's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.

The school portfolio is elementary-weighted

5 of Southaven's 10 listed schools are elementary campuses. That composition means citywide enrollment and staffing averages are influenced more by early-grade operating patterns than by the city's 2 middle and 2 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.

The composite and staffing measures point in different directions

Southaven's average Resource Investment Index sits at the 14th percentile, while its teacher-staffing measure sits at the 49th percentile. The 35-point percentile gap is a reminder that the index is not a class-size score: counselors, gifted-program reporting, and attendance also affect it. Compare those components directly when two schools have similar index totals; the same headline score can arise from a different mix of reported resources.

City enrollment
Top 17%
School count
Top 41%
Resource Index average
14th percentile
Teacher staffing
49th percentile

Desoto Central High School accounts for 18.0% of all Southaven public-school enrollment

That concentration means Southaven-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

Southaven school enrollment varies 3.6× across entities

Southaven school enrollment ranges from 556 students (lowest) to 2,004 students (highest), a spread of 1,448 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

Southaven reports 54.5% free-lunch eligibility

The reported share clears the 50% majority mark. 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

Southaven operates one school district — a single-district system

Southaven's listed schools share one district boundary, budget authority, and reporting chain. That makes citywide and districtwide governance easier to compare, but it does not make individual campuses uniform: grade configuration, staffing, programs, and student need can still vary materially within the same school district.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Southaven student-teacher ratio is 15.4:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

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 Variation between sub-units within Southaven is typically wider than the Southaven-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Southaven

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 Desoto Central Primary 69.4/100
  2. 2 Desoto Central Elementary School 68.6/100
  3. 3 Desoto Central Middle School 65.8/100
  4. 4 Desoto Central High School 63.4/100
  5. 5 Southaven Elementary 62.3/100

What do families ask about schools in Southaven?

Which Southaven school has the highest Resource Investment Index?

Southaven High School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Southaven schools in this federal-data comparison at 36/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Southaven, MS?

Southaven has 10 public schools with a total enrollment of 11,160 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 15.4:1.

Other Cities in Mississippi

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.