Fordyce School District

The Fordyce School District in Arkansas is a small, rural district serving 659 students across two schools: Fordyce Elementary Schools (Pre-K through 6th grade) and Fordyce High School (7th through 12th grade). Both schools hold a 1-star rating from SchoolDigger, indicating significant academic challenges compared to state averages, and over 73% of students across the district qualify for free or reduced lunch.

The standout school is Fordyce Elementary Schools, which shows a notable strength in 4th-grade Mathematics, where 51.3% of students are proficient—4.3 percentage points above the state average. This is the only instance in the district where a grade-level subject outperforms the state. In contrast, Fordyce High School excels in keeping students on track to graduate, boasting a 92.8% graduation rate that exceeds the state average of 90.1%, despite low test scores. The high school also has a favorable student-teacher ratio of 9.4:1, compared to the elementary school's 14:1, though this does not translate into higher academic proficiency.

Key metrics reveal a paradox: the district spends significantly more per student at the elementary level ($20,358) than at the high school level ($13,434), yet academic outcomes remain well below state averages. However, there are positive trends, with both schools showing year-over-year improvement in test scores from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026. For example, high school Mathematics proficiency rose from 11.9% to 22.4%, and English Language Arts from 18% to 24.1%. The most striking finding is the Algebra/Geometry gap at the high school, where 8th graders taking Algebra achieve 61.6% proficiency, while 9th graders in the same subject reach only 4.8% proficiency, highlighting the challenge of bringing the general student body to grade-level standards.