Summary:
The Clarendon School District in Arkansas is a small, rural district serving approximately 433 students across just two schools: Clarendon Elementary School (Pre-K through 6th grade) and Clarendon High School (7th through 12th grade).
Both schools face significant challenges, with the district ranking in the 5th percentile statewide and 100% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. However, there are notable differences between the two. Clarendon Elementary School shows a glimmer of hope, particularly in 6th Grade Science, where its proficiency rate of 42.3% nearly matches the state average. It also demonstrated the most dramatic year-over-year improvement, with ELA proficiency nearly doubling from 9.9% to 16.4% between the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. In contrast, Clarendon High School struggles with a very low graduation rate of 80.9% (compared to the state average of 90.1%) and extremely low proficiency in advanced subjects like Algebra (3.4%) and Biology (4.3%), indicating a critical gap in college readiness. An interesting anomaly at the high school is that 8th graders consistently outperform 7th graders in Reading and Science, which may point to a particularly effective teacher or program at that grade level.
Overall, the district spends a high amount per student—over $17,000 annually—yet academic performance remains roughly half the state average or lower across most subjects. This suggests that the financial resources are largely consumed by the fixed costs of operating a small, rural district rather than directly boosting student outcomes. Despite these challenges, the significant year-over-year improvement in test scores at both schools offers a positive trend, suggesting that recent interventions may be starting to take effect. For parents, this district offers small class sizes (ratios of 11:1 at the elementary and 9.6:1 at the high school) but also requires a close look at the specific academic support available, especially for high school students preparing for college or careers.
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