Summary:
The Alpena School District in Alpena, Arkansas, serves approximately 402 students across two schools—Alpena Elementary School (Pre-K through 6th grade) and Alpena High School (7th through 12th grade)—and is ranked 67th out of 251 districts in the state, earning a 4-star rating.
Alpena Elementary School stands out as a strong performer in core subjects, particularly in Mathematics where 54.3% of students were proficient in 2025-2026, outpacing the state average by over 10 percentage points. The school also exceeds state averages in Reading (43.8% vs. 40.4%) and Science (48.5% vs. 44.0%). In contrast, Alpena High School boasts an exceptional 3:1 student-teacher ratio, which supports a 94.5% graduation rate—well above the state average of 90.1%. The high school outperforms the state in English Language Arts (41.8% vs. 39.4%), Reading (44.5% vs. 40.4%), Mathematics (50.8% vs. 44.1%), and Science (47.6% vs. 44.0%), though it struggles in specialized subjects like Algebra (34.4% vs. 36.9%) and Biology (29.4% vs. 42.7%).
Both schools experienced a drop in state percentile rankings from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026, but this was not due to declining performance—test scores in most subjects actually improved or held steady. Instead, other schools across Arkansas improved at a faster pace. The district invests more per student at the high school ($14,893) than the elementary school ($12,971), likely to fund its extremely low student-teacher ratio. With 71.23% of elementary students and 61.75% of high school students eligible for free or reduced lunch, the district demonstrates notable efficiency, especially at the elementary level, where strong academic results are achieved with comparatively less funding per student.
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