Ashdown School District

The Ashdown School District in Arkansas is a small, unified district serving 1,281 students across three schools: Ashdown Elementary School (K-5), Ashdown Junior High School (6-8), and Ashdown High School (9-12). The district ranks 157th out of 251 in Arkansas (37th percentile) with a 2-star rating, and all schools face high economic disadvantage, with free/reduced lunch rates between 68% and 73%.

Ashdown Junior High School stands out as the district's strongest performer, ranking in the 45th percentile and showing consistent improvement over three years. It is the only school where students meet or exceed state averages in specific subjects, such as 7th-grade Reading (47% vs. 39% state) and Science (48.8% vs. 44.9% state). In contrast, Ashdown High School struggles with the lowest percentile rank (34th) and a 1-star rating, though it boasts a strong 91.4% graduation rate and a very low 0.7% dropout rate. However, its Geometry proficiency is a crisis point at just 10.1% (vs. 26.4% state). Ashdown Elementary School shows dramatic year-over-year improvement, jumping from the 31st to 37th percentile, but faces a notable 4th-grade slump where ELA proficiency drops to 24.4%—17 points below the state average.

A key paradox is the inverse relationship between spending and performance: the Junior High spends the most per student ($14,999) and performs best, while the High School spends $13,464 per student but performs worst. The Elementary School spends the least ($11,048) and falls in the middle. Overall, the district lags behind state averages in ELA (33% vs. 39.4%), Math (36.3% vs. 44.1%), and Science (41.9% vs. 44%), but every school improved its ranking from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026, suggesting recent initiatives are yielding positive results.