Summary:
The Pocahontas School District contains a single high school, Pocahontas High School, which serves grades 10 through 12 with 410 students in a rural Arkansas area where a majority of students (59%) come from economically disadvantaged households.
Pocahontas High School presents a mixed picture for parents. On the positive side, the school boasts an exceptionally low student-teacher ratio of 5.9:1, meaning very small class sizes and high potential for individual attention. The graduation rate is a strong 91.4%, slightly above the state average, and the dropout rate is low at 2.4%. However, academic proficiency is a major concern. The school currently holds a 1-star rating and ranks in the 21st percentile statewide (232 out of 293), a significant drop from the 38th percentile just two years prior. While Biology is the school's strongest subject with 31.2% proficiency, this still trails the state average. The most glaring issue is a "Geometry crisis": only 7% of students are proficient in Geometry, compared to 26.4% statewide, representing a massive 19.4 percentage point gap.
Despite spending over $13,500 per student and having small classes, the school's academic performance is well below state averages across all tested subjects. This suggests the challenges are not about funding or class size, but may relate to instructional quality or curriculum alignment. The downward trend is accelerating, with recent drops in ELA and Reading proficiency. Parents should note that while the school effectively keeps students enrolled and graduating, many are not mastering core academic content, particularly in math. The school's strongest area is Biology, but overall, Pocahontas High School requires significant academic intervention to reverse its declining performance.
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