For several years, officials from the Petal School District have been keeping an eye on the ranking system at www.niche.com, a Pittsburgh-based company that connects people to their future schools, neighborhoods and workplaces.
So it’s safe to say they were more than pleased to find out Niche ranked Petal as the No. 1 school district in Mississippi, according to the 2022 Best School Districts rating. The ranking is based on analysis of academic and student life data from the United States Department of Education, along with test scores, college data and ratings collected from millions of Niche users.
“This is very special to us,” said Matt Dillon, superintendent of the Petal School District. “I could not be more proud of our district.”
The Petal School District also received an A+ overall Niche grade, which is based on academics, administration, clubs and activities, college preparation, diversity, food, health and safety, resources and facilities, sports, and teachers.
“There’s a lot of recognition (for the district) right now,” Dillon said. “It’s our faculty, staff and leadership working extremely hard to provide high-quality educational opportunities for our students.
“Their work has paid off, and I love to see the consistency in our district around academics. We have a rich tradition of academic excellence that continues to move forward in our district, and it’s because of our people.”
Niche.com offers in-depth profiles on every school and college in America. Along with its reviews on companies and neighborhood, the site features more than 200,000 total profiles.
Visitors also can find more than 100 million ratings and reviews from users; more than 50 million people used Niche.com in the last year.
The site is broken down into categories of K-12 schools, colleges, graduate schools and places to live. Each category features several subcategories, including school searches, quizzes, scholarship information, comparison tools, rankings and home buying tips.
