Summary:
The Jasper School District in Arkansas is home to three small, rural high schools—Jasper High School, Kingston High School, and Oark High School—serving grades 7-12 with enrollments ranging from 77 to 205 students, and the district as a whole holds a 3-star rating, ranking 98th out of 251 districts in the state.
Kingston High School is the clear standout, consistently earning top state rankings and a 4-star rating for 2025-2026 despite having 96.74% of its students eligible for free or reduced lunch. It boasts a 90.9% graduation rate and a low 0.8% dropout rate, and it dramatically outperforms the state in Algebra (50% proficient vs. 36.9% state average). In contrast, Oark High School is the most challenged, with a 2-star rating, the highest dropout rate in the district (2.8%), and the lowest test scores across nearly all subjects—including only 15.4% of 8th graders proficient in math. Jasper High School sits in the middle as the largest school, earning a 3-star rating with a solid 94.4% graduation rate, though it struggles in advanced math courses like Geometry (8.6% proficient vs. 26.4% state).
A striking finding is the inverse relationship between spending and performance: Oark High School spends the most per student ($25,254) yet performs the worst, while Jasper High School spends the least ($13,788) and achieves better results. Additionally, both Jasper and Kingston have seen declining state rankings over the past two years, a trend worth monitoring. For parents, Kingston High School offers the strongest academic environment despite high poverty, while Oark High School faces critical challenges that require targeted intervention.
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