Summary:
The Danville School District in Arkansas is home to a single high school, Danville High School, which serves 252 students in grades 9 through 12 in a rural area where over 72% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Danville High School presents a mixed picture of strengths and challenges. On the positive side, the school boasts an exceptionally low student-teacher ratio of 3.8:1, suggesting very small classes and personalized attention. It also excels in Biology, with 44.4% of students proficient—above the state average of 42.7%—and has a very low dropout rate of just 0.4%. However, the school struggles significantly in mathematics: only 19.3% of students are proficient in Algebra and 13.0% in Geometry, both roughly half the state averages. This creates a notable STEM paradox where science performance outpaces math. The school’s state ranking has also declined over three years, from the 87th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 57th percentile in 2025-2026, even as spending per student is high at $15,732.
Despite the declining ranking, there are encouraging year-over-year improvements in core subjects from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026: English Language Arts proficiency rose from 32.2% to 39.6%, Reading from 36.4% to 40.6%, and Biology from 32.6% to 44.4%. This suggests the school is making academic gains, but other schools in Arkansas are improving faster. The high poverty rate is an important context, as it often correlates with additional challenges. For parents, the key takeaway is that Danville High School offers a supportive, small-school environment with strong science instruction, but math achievement is a critical area needing attention.
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