Summary:
The Waldron School District is home to a single high school, Waldron High School, which serves 401 students in grades 9 through 12 in a rural Arkansas community where about two-thirds of students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Waldron High School shows a mixed but improving picture. After a significant drop to a 1-star rating in the 2024-2025 school year, the school rebounded to a 2-star rating in 2025-2026, climbing from the 30th to the 36th percentile statewide. The school invests heavily in its students, spending $16,860 per pupil and maintaining a very low student-teacher ratio of 8.8 to 1, which suggests small class sizes and potential for individualized attention. Its graduation rate of 89.5% is close to the state average of 90.1%, and the dropout rate is an impressively low 0.5%, indicating strong student retention despite economic challenges.
Academically, the school’s standout strength is Biology, where 41.4% of students are proficient—nearly matching the state average of 42.7%. In fact, 10th-grade Biology proficiency actually exceeds the state average. However, math remains a significant challenge: Algebra proficiency, while improving from a dire 8% to 21.9%, still trails the state average by 15 points, and Geometry proficiency sits at just 18%. English Language Arts and Reading proficiency rates also lag behind state averages by over 10 points. This contrast between strong science performance and weak math and reading scores suggests that while the school has effective strategies in certain areas, it has not yet translated its high spending and small class sizes into consistent academic success across all core subjects.
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