Summary:
The Gurdon School District in Gurdon, Arkansas, serves approximately 617 students across two public schools: Cabe Elementary (Pre-K through 6th grade) and Gurdon High School (7th through 12th grade), both of which have seen declining state rankings and now hold a 1-star rating.
Gurdon High School stands out for its high per-student spending ($16,666) and a low student-teacher ratio of 9.7:1, yet its overall academic performance remains below state averages. A bright spot is Science proficiency (42.1%), which nearly matches the state average, but Geometry proficiency is critically low at just 13.3%, with 0% of 10th graders proficient. In contrast, Cabe Elementary has a higher student-teacher ratio (16.1:1) and lower per-student spending ($13,626), and its proficiency rates in Math (30.7%) and Reading (38.5%) consistently trail state averages. However, 6th graders at Cabe showed relative strength in Reading (42.5% proficient) and Science (38.3% proficient), both close to state norms.
Both schools serve a high-poverty population, with free/reduced lunch rates above 76%. The high school's graduation rate is 84.3%, below the state average, though its dropout rate is very low at 0.4%. A notable finding is that 75% of 8th graders were proficient in Algebra—above the state average—but this success does not carry into 9th grade, where only 12.5% were proficient. This pattern, combined with a three-year decline in state rankings for both schools, suggests systemic challenges that the district must address to better support its students.
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