Best Public Schools in Norphlet, AR

The city of Norphlet, Arkansas, is served by three public schools within the Smackover Norphlet School District, which holds a 3-star rating and ranks in the 64th percentile statewide, serving a total of 1,208 students from elementary through high school.

Smackover Elementary School is the district's standout performer, earning a 3-star rating and ranking in the 67th percentile. It consistently exceeds state averages in all core subjects, with particularly strong 4th-grade math (60.9% proficient vs. 47% statewide) and ELA (51.7% vs. 41.4%). In contrast, Norphlet Middle School is the district's weakest link, holding a 2-star rating for three consecutive years and ranking in the 46th percentile. It shows a clear "middle school slump," where 5th graders excel (61.8% proficient in math, well above the state's 45%), but 6th graders plummet to 30.3% proficiency. Smackover High School is the most volatile school, experiencing a dramatic turnaround from a 1-star rating in 2024-2025 to a 3-star rating in 2025-2026, driven by major gains in English Language Arts and Reading. However, Geometry remains a critical weakness, with only 10.6% of students proficient.

Resource allocation presents a paradox: the high school has the lowest student-teacher ratio (5.2:1) and highest spending per student ($14,821), yet only achieves average performance, while the elementary school has a much higher ratio (17.8:1) and slightly lower spending ($14,530) but is the top performer. The middle school serves the most economically disadvantaged population (58.88% free/reduced lunch) and receives the least funding per student ($12,079). Overall, the district is a tale of two halves: the elementary school provides a strong foundation, the high school shows recent promise, but the middle school acts as a bottleneck where strong early performance gives way to multi-year declines in math and science.