This week, OEP is pleased to recognize Arkansas schools demonstrating Outstanding Educational Performance. OEP awards are different than other awards because we focus solely on student academic growth. Unlike other indicators of school performance, academic growth is not very correlated with school demographics. This means it is reflective of what students are learning in school, not what challenges they may face due to out of school factors.
Here at OEP, we choose to highlight student academic growth because we believe that it is the best reflection of the impact that a school is having on students’ academic success.
Highest Overall Growth: Elementary Level
The top elementary school for overall student growth is Pottsville Elementary from Pottsville School District, with an overall growth score of 91.67. Pottsville Elementary also took the top spot for growth in math at 93.40. Green Forest Elementary from Green Forest School District had the highest growth score in ELA at 91.54.
Highest Overall Growth: Middle Level
The top middle school for overall student growth is Bentonville’s Lincoln Junior High , with an overall growth score of 86.69. Bentonville’s Washington Junior High took the top spot in math with a growth score of 90.47. Students in LISA Academy Middle in Rogers-Bentonville demonstrated the greatest growth in ELA at 87.87.
Highest Overall Growth: High School Level
The top high school for overall student growth is Haas Hall Bentonville , with an overall growth score of 85.37. Haas Hall Academy at the Jones Center was in the top spot for math at 88.25. Students at Arkansas School for the Blind High demonstrated the highest growth in ELA at 85.55.
Below we list the Top 20 Elementary, Middle/ Junior High, and High Schools for 2023. We include the percentage of students eligible for Free and Reduced-Price Lunch (% FRL) and the recently assigned school letter grades. *Asterisks indicate how many times the school has been in the top 20 for overall growth in the prior 5 years of OEP awards.*
The 20 elementary schools with the highest overall content growth are:
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- Pottsville Elementary, Pottsville (41% FRL) Letter Grade: A****
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- Emerson Elementary, Emerson-Taylor-Bradley (49% FRL) Letter Grade: A
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- Genoa Central Elementary, Genoa Central (40% FRL) Letter Grade: A**
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- Parkview Elementary, Van Buren (54% FRL) Letter Grade: A**
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- Mountain Springs Elementary, Cabot (29% FRL) Letter Grade: A
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- Stagecoach Elementary, Cabot (45% FRL) Letter Grade: B***
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- Root Elementary, Fayetteville (13% FRL) Letter Grade: A*
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- Vilonia Primary, Vilonia (51% FRL) Letter Grade: B
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- Don Roberts Elementary, Little Rock (23% FRL) Letter Grade: A**
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- Green Forest Elementary, Green Forest (83% FRL) Letter Grade: B***
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- John Tyson Elementary, Springdale (71% FRL) Letter Grade: A***
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- Center Valley Elementary, Russellville (48% FRL) Letter Grade: A**
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- Apple Glen Elementary, Bentonville (21% FRL) Letter Grade: A
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- S.C. Tucker Elementary, Danville (76% FRL) Letter Grade: A*
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- Vilonia Elementary, Vilonia (43% FRL) Letter Grade: A
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- Maumelle Charter Elementary, Academics Plus Public Charter Schools (25% FRL) Letter Grade: A
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- Carolyn Lewis Elementary, Conway (51% FRL) Letter Grade: A***
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- Hunt Elementary, Springdale (54% FRL) Letter Grade: A*****
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- Ward Central Elementary, Cabot (68% FRL) Letter Grade: B**
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- Chenal Elementary, Pulaski County Special (23% FRL) Letter Grade: A
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- Westside Elementary, Cabot (68% FRL) Letter Grade: B**
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- Washington Elementary, Fayetteville (51% FRL) Letter Grade: B
The 20 middle/junior high schools with the highest overall content growth are:
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- Lincoln Junior High, Bentonville (22% FRL) Letter Grade: A*****
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- Washington Junior High, Bentonville (25% FRL) Letter Grade: A***
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- LISA Academy Rogers-Bentonville Middle School, LISA Academy (26% FRL) Letter Grade: A
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- Vilonia Middle, Vilonia (47% FRL) Letter Grade: A**
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- L. A. Chaffin Middle, Fort Smith (54% FRL) Letter Grade: A***
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- LISA Academy North Middle, Lisa Academy (60% FRL) Letter Grade: B***
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- Woodland Junior High, Fayetteville (26% FRL) Letter Grade: A*
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- Forrest City Junior High, Forrest City (80% FRL) Letter Grade: D
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- eStem Junior High, eStem Public Charter (68% FRL) Letter Grade: C*
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- Valley Springs Middle, Valley Springs (44% FRL) Letter Grade: A****
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- Gravette Middle, Gravette (35% FRL) Letter Grade: A****
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- Atkins Middle, Atkins (66% FRL) Letter Grade: B*
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- eStem East Village Junior High, eStem Public Charter School (72% FRL) Letter Grade: C*
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- Bright Field Middle, Bentonville (9% FRL) Letter Grade: A**
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- LISA Academy Springdale, LISA Academy (66% FRL) Letter Grade: B*
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- Pea Ridge Middle, Pea Ridge (34% FRL) Letter Grade: B*
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- KIPP Delta College Preparatory School, KIPP Delta Public Schools (92% FRL) Letter Grade: C
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- Quitman Middle, Quitman (51% FRL) Letter Grade: B
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- Hope Academy Of Public Service, Hope (84% FRL) Letter Grade: B
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- Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle, Conway (64% FRL) Letter Grade: B*
The 20 high schools with the highest overall content growth are:
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- Haas Hall Bentonville, Haas Hall Academy (4% FRL) Letter Grade: A*****
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- Haas Hall Academy Jones Center, Haas Hall Academy (17 % FRL) Letter Grade: A**
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- Rural Special High, Mountain View (67 % FRL) Letter Grade: A**
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- Star City High, Star City (62% FRL) Letter Grade: C
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- Haas Hall Academy At The Lane, Haas Hall Academy (15% FRL) Letter Grade: A****
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- Drew Central High, Drew Central (65% FRL) Letter Grade: C
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- Berryville High, Berryville (69% FRL) Letter Grade: C
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- Decatur High, Decatur (71% FRL) Letter Grade: C
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- Southside Charter High, Southside (Independence) (51% FRL) Letter Grade: B*
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- Cave City High Career & Collegiate Preparatory School, Cave City (72 % FRL) Letter Grade: B*
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- Booneville High, Booneville (67% FRL) Letter Grade: C*
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- Concord High, Concord (51% FRL) Letter Grade: B****
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- Conway Junior High, Conway (56% FRL) Letter Grade: A*
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- Malvern High, Malvern (66% FRL) Letter Grade: C*
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- Dardanelle High, Dardanelle (64% FRL) Letter Grade: B***
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- Dermott High, Dermott (94% FRL) Letter Grade: D
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- Waldron High, Waldron (66 % FRL) Letter Grade: C
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- Greenland High, Greenland (67% FRL) Letter Grade: C
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- Arkansas School For The Blind High, Ark. School For The Blind (40% FRL) Letter Grade: Not Assigned*
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- Oark High, Jasper (85% FRL) Letter Grade: C*
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- Jasper High, Jasper (61% FRL) Letter Grade: B**
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- Walnut Ridge High, Lawrence County (45% FRL) Letter Grade: C
Three of these top 20 schools have been on our list every year since 2017, indicating that students in these schools are persistently demonstrating the highest levels of improvement year after year. Forty-three have been our top 20 list at least once before. We celebrate the 19 schools on the list that are newcomers – showing that growth scores can improve over time. These schools, and others included in the full report, are growing student’s academic performance at the very highest levels. Way to go!
If your school wasn’t on this list, you can see how they stack up in our letter grades data visualization or a downloadable dataset for all schools in the state.
Congratulations to all our schools demonstrating Outstanding Educational Performance.
—————Stay tuned to learn about more OEP Award Winners!————–
On October 10th we will release the 2023 awards for high growth schools serving high poverty populations, those who are “Beating the Odds!”