Best Public Schools in Bentonville, AR

Bentonville, Arkansas, is home to 25 schools, serving grades K-12, and is anchored by the top-performing Bentonville School District, which ranks in the 97th percentile statewide. The city’s educational landscape is dominated by this district, which operates 23 of the 25 schools, alongside a top-ranked charter school and an alternative online academy.

The standout school in the city is Haas Hall Bentonville, ranked #1 in Arkansas, with near-perfect test scores and the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (1.15%). Among traditional district schools, Evening Star Elementary School is the top elementary, ranked #1 in the state, while Lincoln Junior High School is the standout middle school, ranked #2 in Arkansas. The two traditional high schools, Bentonville High School and Bentonville West High School, both boast graduation rates above 96% and very low dropout rates, though Bentonville High consistently outperforms its counterpart in test scores. The Arkansas Connections Academy is a significant outlier, with a high dropout rate (11.5%) and low test scores, serving a massive enrollment of 4,575 students.

A key takeaway is that socioeconomic status is a strong predictor of performance, with schools like Evening Star (3.35% free/reduced lunch) and Bright Field Middle School (4.59%) achieving top scores, while The International School At Mary Mae Jones (42.5%) and R.E. Baker Elementary School (38.19%) have lower scores. However, exceptions like Lincoln Junior High (20.06% free/reduced lunch) show that effective teaching can overcome poverty. Notably, per-student spending does not correlate with success, as the highest-spending schools, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School ($18,166) and Sugar Creek Elementary School ($17,590), have good but not top-tier scores, while Haas Hall spends the least ($7,618).