Summary:
The Dumas School District in Arkansas is served by a single elementary school, Reed Elementary School, which educates 368 students from Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade in a community where every student faces significant economic challenges, as indicated by a 100% free and reduced lunch rate.
Reed Elementary School presents a stark paradox: it spends a very high $19,505 per student, yet its academic performance ranks in the bottom 2% of all elementary schools in Arkansas (482 out of 491). Overall proficiency rates are critically low, with only 14.2% of students proficient in English Language Arts, 15.6% in Reading, 13.0% in Mathematics, and 13.6% in Science—all roughly one-third of the state averages. The school maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 13.8:1, but this investment has not translated into strong academic outcomes.
The most alarming trend is a steep decline in performance as students advance. For example, 3rd-grade math proficiency is 25%, but this plummets to just 1.8% by 5th grade—a catastrophic drop that suggests the school is widening the achievement gap rather than closing it. Year-over-year progress is minimal, with the school essentially treading water while the rest of the state improves. Since Reed Elementary is the only elementary school in the Dumas School District, the district's elementary rank of 249 out of 251 is a direct reflection of this single school's struggles, highlighting an urgent need for targeted intervention, particularly in the upper elementary grades.
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