Best Public Schools in Quitman, AR

The Quitman School District in Quitman, Arkansas, serves 950 students across three public schools—Quitman Elementary School (PK-5), Quitman Middle School (6-8), and Quitman High School (9-12)—and is ranked 65th out of 251 districts in the state, earning a solid 4-star rating.

Quitman Elementary School is the district’s academic powerhouse, consistently exceeding state averages in all core subjects and showing a strong upward trend in its state ranking over the past three years. In contrast, Quitman Middle School has seen a declining ranking, though it boasts a standout 8th-grade Algebra program with a 65.4% proficiency rate—more than double the state average. Quitman High School offers an exceptionally low student-teacher ratio of 7.9:1 and a strong 93.9% graduation rate, but its test scores generally fall below state averages despite spending nearly three times more per student than the middle school. Science is a district-wide strength, with all three schools outperforming the state average in that subject.

A key takeaway is the spending paradox: the high school’s high per-student spending ($16,566) does not translate into top test scores, while the middle school achieves its remarkable Algebra results with the lowest spending ($5,918). Additionally, a specific concern is 7th-grade reading at the middle school, where only 18.3% of students are proficient—a dramatic outlier compared to other grades and the state average. The elementary school’s rising trajectory and the middle school’s decline suggest the district should investigate what drives success at each level to replicate best practices across all schools.