Summary:
Ashdown, Arkansas is home to a single middle school, Ashdown Junior High School, which serves grades 6 through 8 with an enrollment of 278 students and is part of the Ashdown School District.
Ashdown Junior High School is a school on a strong upward trajectory, showing remarkable year-over-year improvement. From the 2024-2025 to the 2025-2026 school year, overall proficiency rates jumped significantly in every subject, with Reading increasing by 10.7 percentage points and Science by 9.5 percentage points. This rapid progress has lifted the school's state ranking from the 33rd percentile to the 45th percentile. The school's strongest subject is Science, where 42.1% of students are proficient, just 1.9 points below the state average. The 7th grade class is the standout grade level, outperforming the state average in both Reading (47% vs. 39%) and Science (48.8% vs. 44.9%). However, there is a stark performance gap with the 8th grade, which scored dramatically below state averages in all subjects, most notably in English Language Arts (18.6% proficient vs. 37.2% state).
Despite spending a notable $14,999 per student and maintaining a low student-teacher ratio of 9.6:1, the school's overall proficiency rates remain below state averages, a challenge likely influenced by the fact that 70.86% of students are economically disadvantaged. The school's overall proficiency for 2025-2026 stands at 33% in English Language Arts, 37.8% in Reading, 37.3% in Math, and 42.1% in Science, compared to state averages of 39.4%, 40.4%, 44.1%, and 44% respectively. The positive trend in state ranking and the significant one-year test score gains suggest that recent instructional changes are having a strong effect, positioning the school to potentially meet or exceed state averages in the near future if this rate of improvement continues.
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