This week, OEP is thrilled to recognize Arkansas schools that are Beating the Odds! The final installment of this year’s Outstanding Educational Performance awards, Beating the Odds award winners serve a population where at least 66% of students face economic challenges and where the students are demonstrating the highest levels of academic growth. Unlike other indicators of school performance, academic growth is not very correlated with school demographics. As ESSA scores and the subsequent letter grades include indicators that are correlated with poverty, sometimes these schools have lower achievement rates and do not get the recognition that they deserve. Our Beating the Odds schools received letter grades ranging from A to F, even though they are all demonstrating high growth! You can check out the info for all school in our updated Letter Grades dataset. We feel it is important to recognize those schools that are helping their students who may be at-risk grow their learning at the highest rates.
OEP Beating the Odds awards for schools are based on the growth of elementary, middle, and high school students on the ACT Aspire Math and English Language Arts assessments.
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.
Beating the Odds Overall Growth: Elementary Level
The top elementary school Beating the Odds for overall student growth is S.C. Tucker Elementary from Danville School District, with an overall growth score of 88.55. S.C. Tucker Elementary also took the top spot for growth in math at 88.66. Green Forest Elementary from Green Forest School District had the highest growth score in ELA at 89.24.
Beating the Odds Overall Growth: Middle Level
The top middle school for overall student growth is eStem East Village Junior High, with an overall growth score of 86.05. eStem East Village Junior High also took the top spot for growth in math at 87.56 and in ELA at 84.48.
Beating the Odds Overall Growth: High School Level
The top high school for overall student growth is Cave City High Career & Collegiate Preparatory from Cave City School District, with an overall growth score of 83.87. Dardanelle High from Dardanelle School District was in the top spot for math at 85.44. Booneville High School from Eureka Springs School District had the highest growth in ELA at 84.02.
The 10 Beating the Odds elementary schools with the highest overall content growth are:
- S.C. Tucker Elementary, Danville SD (76% FRL)
- Green Forest Elementary, Green Forest SD (81% FRL)***
- Weiner Elementary, Harrisburg SD (67% FRL)**
- Cedar Ridge Elementary, Cedar Ridge SD (77% FRL)
- Calico Rock Elementary, Calico Rock SD (82% FRL)
- Dardanelle Primary, Dardanelle SD (71% FRL)
- Wakefield Elementary, Little Rock SD (98% FRL)
- John Tyson Elementary, Springdale SD (74% FRL)
- Des Arc Elementary, Des Arc SD (71% FRL)
- Bayyari Elementary, Springdale SD (89% FRL)
- George Elementary, Springdale SD (88% FRL)
The 10 Beating the Odds middle/junior high schools with the highest overall content growth are:
- eStem East Village Junior High, eStem Public Charter (67% FRL)
- Highland Middle, Highland SD (72% FRL)
- Mansfield Middle, Mansfield SD (75% FRL)
- Atkins Middle, Atkins SD (69% FRL)
- DeQueen Middle, DeQueen SD (86% FRL)
- Lamar Middle, Lamar SD (73% FRL)
- Mena Middle, Mena SD (89% FRL)
- Wonder Junior High, West Memphis SD (89% FRL)
- Hope Academy of Public Service, Hope SD (84% FRL)
- Lonoke Middle, Lonoke SD (69% FRL)
- Star City Middle, Star City SD (67% FRL)
The 10 Beating the Odds high schools with the highest overall content growth are:
- Cave City High Career and College Prep, Cave City SD (76% FRL)
- Dardanelle High, Dardanelle SD (71% FRL)
- Booneville High, Booneville SD (67% FRL)
- Jessieville High, Jessieville SD (66% FRL)
- Green Forest High, Green Forest SD (78% FRL)
- Jasper High, Jasper SD (69% FRL)
- Dollarway High, Pine Bluff SD (90% FRL)
- North Little Rock Center of Excellence, North Little Rock SD (74% FRL)
- DeQueen Junior High, De Queen SD (80% FRL)
- Cedar Ridge High, Cedar Ridge SD (67% FRL)
These schools, and others included in the full report, are growing student’s academic performance more than would be expected. Way to go!
How do OEP awards differ from ADE’s Recognition and Reward Schools?
- OEP awards are given by grade span and award for elementary, middle, and high schools, while reward schools are among all schools in the state regardless of grades served.
- OEP awards use the purest measure of academic growth (referred to as Combined Content Growth Score) which includes growth for Math and English Language Arts only. Some ADE Rewards are based on achievement, which is highly correlated with poverty, and the growth awards also consider graduation rates (?). Almost all elementary and high school level OEP high growth award winners were Reward schools, but only 20% of high growth middle schools were rewarded by the state program for their high growth.
- We give OEP awards for high growth overall as well as for Math and ELA growth individually.
- There is no money attached to these awards- just OEP PRIDE!
Congratulations to all our OEP award winners: schools demonstrating Outstanding Educational Performance!