Summary:
The city of Oark, Arkansas is home to two schools - Oark Elementary School and Oark High School, both part of the Jasper School District. These schools serve a predominantly low-income student population, with Oark Elementary having an exceptionally high 97.14% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch.
Despite the higher per-student spending and small class sizes, both Oark Elementary and Oark High School perform significantly below state and district averages on standardized tests across subjects like English Language Arts, Reading, Math, and Science. For example, in 2024-2025 only 18% of Oark Elementary students were proficient or better in ELA, compared to 34.7% statewide. This concerning trend of low student achievement suggests there may be systemic issues impacting the schools' performance that need to be addressed.
Oark High School has a relatively small student body of just 70 students, while Oark Elementary has a very low student-teacher ratio of 9.4. However, both schools have relatively low statewide rankings, with Oark Elementary in the bottom 20% of Arkansas elementary schools and Oark High in the bottom 15% of high schools. This indicates that despite the resource advantages, the schools are struggling to translate these inputs into strong academic outcomes for their students.
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