Summary:
The Hot Springs School District in Arkansas serves approximately 3,800 students across six schools: four elementary schools (PK-6), one middle school (7-9), and one high school (10-12), with nearly every student facing economic disadvantage.
The standout school is Park Magnet An Ib Pyp World Class School, which earns a 4-star rating and ranks in the 76th percentile statewide, consistently exceeding both district and state averages in every subject despite 100% of its students being economically disadvantaged. In contrast, the other three elementary magnet schools—Main Street Visual & Performing Arts Magnet School, Langston Elementary Leadership Academy Magnet School, and Oaklawn Stem Magnet School—all rank in the bottom 25% of Arkansas elementary schools, showing that the magnet label alone does not guarantee success. The Hot Springs World Class High School is a bright spot, improving from the 36th to 46th percentile and performing well in English, but it struggles significantly in Biology (27.5% proficient) and Geometry (16.1% proficient). The Hot Springs Junior Academy is the lowest-performing school with a 1-star rating, yet it has a remarkable anomaly: its 9th-grade Biology proficiency rate is 72.2%, far above the state average of 42.7%.
Key takeaways include that poverty is not destiny, as Park Magnet proves, and that high spending does not equal high performance—the high school spends the most per student ($18,164) but is not the top academic performer, while Park Magnet spends less ($14,223) and excels. Most schools showed significant year-over-year improvement, such as Main Street Elementary jumping from 17.9% to 28.4% in English Language Arts proficiency. For parents, this district offers a mix of exceptional opportunity at Park Magnet and targeted challenges at the middle and high school levels, with the Junior Academy’s standout Biology program being a unique strength.
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