Sloan Hendrix School District

The Sloan Hendrix School District in Imboden, Arkansas, is a small, rural district serving 854 students across two schools: Sloan-Hendrix Elementary School (Pre-K through 6th grade) and Sloan-Hendrix High School (7th through 12th grade). The district holds a 3-star rating and ranks in the 52nd percentile statewide, with a high percentage of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Each school has a distinct academic strength. Sloan-Hendrix Elementary School is a standout in Mathematics, with an overall proficiency rate of 54.9%—nearly 11 points above the state average—and it outperforms the state at every tested grade level from 3rd to 6th. In contrast, Sloan-Hendrix High School excels in Science, achieving a 52.7% proficiency rate that is 8.7 points above the state average, driven by strong 8th-grade results. However, the high school struggles with Mathematics, where only 38.8% of students are proficient, well below the state average, and performance in advanced courses like Geometry is notably low at 20.3%. The transition to 7th grade also shows a clear dip in math scores, dropping from 44.5% in 6th grade to 36.9%.

Despite these challenges, the high school boasts a strong graduation rate of 92.9% and an exceptionally low dropout rate of just 0.5%. Interestingly, the high school has a very low student-teacher ratio of 7.2:1, compared to the elementary school's 16.3:1, yet its overall English and Math proficiency is lower, raising questions about resource use. Both schools are on a positive trajectory, with improved state rankings and test scores from the 2024-2025 to the 2025-2026 school year, indicating that the district is making steady progress.