Star City Jimmy Brown Elementary School

Star City Jimmy Brown Elementary School is a public elementary school serving 620 students in grades K-5 in Star City, Arkansas, which is part of the Star City School District. The school has consistently ranked in the bottom half of Arkansas elementary schools over the past several years, maintaining a 1- or 2-star rating from SchoolDigger.

The school faces significant challenges, including consistently underperforming the state average on standardized tests across all subjects and grade levels. For example, in the 2024-2025 school year, only 31.7% of students were proficient or better in English Language Arts, compared to the state average of 34.7%, and only 25.5% were proficient or better in math, compared to the state average of 38.7%. Additionally, the school has very high rates of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, ranging from 68.78% to 86.61% over the past few years, which is significantly higher than the state average. The school's student-teacher ratio has also been relatively high, ranging from 14.6 to 16.0 over the past few years.

While the challenges faced by Star City Jimmy Brown Elementary School are not unique, as nearby schools such as Friendship Aspire Academy Hazel St Pine Bluff, Southwood Elementary School, and Thirty-Fourth Street Elementary School have similar or even lower test scores and performance metrics, one notable exception is Woodlawn Elementary School, which consistently outperforms Star City Jimmy Brown Elementary School and the state average on test scores, has a lower free/reduced lunch rate, and spends less per student, suggesting that factors beyond just demographics and funding may be contributing to the success of Woodlawn Elementary.