Summary:
The Searcy County School District in Arkansas is home to one elementary school, Marshall Elementary School, which serves students from Pre-Kindergarten through 3rd grade with a total enrollment of 284 students. This rural school operates in a community where nearly every student faces economic challenges, with 98.94% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, yet it consistently delivers academic results that surpass state averages across all tested subjects.
Marshall Elementary School stands out as a STEM powerhouse, with 57.3% of students proficient in Mathematics and 57.4% proficient in Science—both roughly 13 percentage points above the state averages of 44.1% and 44.0%, respectively. The school also performs above the state in English Language Arts (42.7% vs. 39.4%) and Reading (44.3% vs. 40.4%). With a student-teacher ratio of 13.6:1 and per-student spending of $17,395, the school appears to effectively leverage its resources to overcome socioeconomic barriers. Its ranking has been volatile, ranging from the 60th to 84th percentile over three years, but its subject-level proficiency remains reliably strong, particularly in STEM.
An interesting detail is that the school's 3rd-grade proficiency scores are nearly identical to its all-grade averages, suggesting consistent performance across all grade levels rather than a drop-off as students advance. The Searcy County School District itself ranks 68th out of 251 districts in Arkansas, earning a 4-star rating. For parents, Marshall Elementary School offers a compelling combination of high per-student investment, strong academic outcomes, and a focused STEM curriculum that makes it a standout choice in a rural setting.
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