Ozark School District

The Ozark School District in Arkansas serves 1,673 students across four schools—one high school, one middle school, and two elementary schools—and is ranked 132nd out of 251 districts in the state, earning a 2-star rating.

The standout school is Ozark Junior Senior High School, which has shown dramatic improvement, peaking at an 81st percentile ranking in 2024-2025. It boasts a strong 92.5% graduation rate and outperforms state averages in Biology, Geometry, and 10th-grade English Language Arts and Reading. In contrast, Elgin B Milton Primary School is a math powerhouse, with 58.2% of students proficient in Mathematics—over 14 points above the state average—though its overall ranking has declined due to weaker literacy scores. Ozark Upper Elementary School is the district's most consistent performer, meeting or exceeding state averages in both ELA and Reading, with 5th-grade scores particularly strong across all subjects. However, Ozark Middle School struggles with a "middle school dip," underperforming district and state averages in ELA, Reading, and Science, despite having the highest per-student spending at $13,112.

Key takeaways include an inverse relationship between spending and performance—the lowest-spending school, Ozark Upper Elementary, is among the highest-performing. The high school shows a "late bloomer" effect in math, with 80% of 9th graders proficient in Geometry, far above the state average. Significant year-over-year ranking volatility across schools suggests inconsistent instructional practices or small sample sizes. The two elementary schools create a natural pipeline: Elgin B Milton excels in math but lags in literacy, while Ozark Upper Elementary successfully balances all subjects, addressing incoming students' weaker reading skills.