Summary:
The Dermott School District is served by a single elementary school, Dermott Elementary School, which educates 150 students from Pre-Kindergarten through 6th grade in a rural Arkansas community where every student faces economic disadvantage.
Dermott Elementary School is a school of stark contrasts. While it spends a remarkable $22,192 per student—well above national averages—and maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 10.7:1, its academic performance ranks in the bottom 20% of Arkansas elementary schools (404th out of 491). The most significant challenge is mathematics, where only 20% of students are proficient compared to the state average of 44.1%. However, there is a bright spot: 4th graders outperform the state in English Language Arts (47.8% vs. 41.4%) and Reading (43.5% vs. 40.9%), suggesting effective instruction exists within the school. A troubling pattern emerges in upper grades, with proficiency dropping sharply from 4th to 6th grade across all subjects—for example, English Language Arts falls from 47.8% in 4th grade to just 13.3% in 6th grade.
Despite the low overall scores, there is encouraging momentum. From the 2024-2025 to 2025-2026 school years, proficiency improved across every subject, with science gaining 10.3 percentage points and mathematics rising 8.6 points. This upward trend, combined with the 4th-grade success, indicates that targeted interventions may be taking hold. For parents, the key takeaway is that Dermott Elementary School faces profound challenges tied to universal poverty, but is showing signs of progress and has specific grade-level strengths that could be expanded to benefit all students.
Thank you for your feedback!