Summary:
The Waldron School District is home to a single middle school, Waldron Middle School, which serves 409 students in grades 5 through 8 in Arkansas.
Waldron Middle School has shown notable improvement, moving from a 1-star to a 2-star rating (34th percentile statewide) between the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. The school’s strongest subject is Mathematics, where 38.9% of all students are proficient, and 8th graders significantly outperform the state average (44.6% vs. 36.2%). However, literacy is a major challenge, with English Language Arts and Reading proficiency rates declining as students get older. For example, 5th graders match the state average in ELA (40.9%), but by 8th grade, only 23.6% are proficient compared to the state’s 37.2%. The school serves a high-needs population, with 70.9% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and maintains a favorable student-teacher ratio of 13.2:1 with per-student spending of $11,198.
Despite the literacy struggles, the school achieved substantial year-over-year gains across all subjects, including a 13.8 percentage point increase in Math proficiency and a 9.9 point increase in ELA. This dramatic improvement, which lifted the school from a 1-star to a 2-star rating, suggests that recent instructional changes may be driving positive momentum. For parents, the key takeaway is that Waldron Middle School excels in mathematics, especially for 8th graders, but faces significant challenges in literacy that worsen as students progress through the grades. The school’s strong improvement trend and manageable class sizes are encouraging signs for families considering this district.
Thank you for your feedback!