Summary:
Wilson, Arkansas, is home to a single middle school, Rivercrest Junior High Preparatory Academy, which serves 179 students in grades 7 and 8 within the Rivercrest School District.
This school has experienced a remarkable turnaround, jumping from a 1-star rating (bottom 20% of Arkansas middle schools) in the 2023-2024 school year to a 3-star rating (top 34%) in the 2024-2025 school year. This leap of 157 places in state rankings suggests recent changes are having a strong positive impact. The school's most standout feature is its exceptional performance in Algebra, where 77.8% of students are proficient—more than double the state average of 30.9%. Overall, the school performs slightly above the state average in English Language Arts (35.1% vs. 34.7%), Reading (37.4% vs. 35.3%), and Mathematics (45.1% vs. 38.7%). However, Science remains a weakness, with a proficiency rate of 33.4% that falls below the state average of 38.1%.
There is a notable performance gap between grade levels, with 7th graders consistently outperforming 8th graders in ELA, Reading, and Math. This could indicate that the school's recent improvements are benefiting the current 7th-grade cohort more. The school serves a student population where 100% are eligible for free/reduced lunch, yet it has achieved above-average results in several subjects, demonstrating that high poverty rates do not preclude academic success. With a student-to-teacher ratio of 15:1, the school provides a supportive environment that has shown significant potential for growth, particularly in math and literacy.
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