Ashdown Junior High School

Ashdown Junior High School in Ashdown, AR, serves 278 students in grades 6 through 8 and is part of the Ashdown School District, which has a 2-star rating and ranks in the 37th percentile among Arkansas districts.

The school has shown a remarkable upward trajectory in recent years, jumping from a 1-star rating in the low 20s percentile (2021-2023) to a 2-star rating in the 45th percentile for the 2025-2026 school year. This improvement is evident in test scores, where Ashdown Junior High significantly outperforms the nearby Arkansas Middle School in Texarkana (14 miles away). For example, Ashdown's math proficiency rate is 37.3% compared to Arkansas Middle's 18.1%, and science proficiency is 42.1% versus 24.1%. The school also benefits from a favorable student-to-teacher ratio of 9.6:1, lower than Arkansas Middle's 11.9:1, and per-pupil spending has increased to $14,999. While over 70% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, this rate is notably lower than Arkansas Middle's 100%, indicating a less concentrated level of poverty.

Despite these strengths, a critical weakness is the "8th grade cliff," where performance drops dramatically across all subjects. For instance, 7th graders exceed the state average in reading (47% vs. 39%), but 8th graders fall far below (24.4% vs. 38.4%). Science is a relative strength, with 6th and 7th graders outperforming the state average, though overall proficiency rates (33-42%) remain below state averages (39-44%). This suggests that while resources and recent initiatives are driving improvement, challenges related to high poverty persist, and the school must address the 8th-grade decline to sustain its positive momentum.