C.B. Partee Elementary School

C.B. Partee Elementary School in Brinkley, AR, serves 262 students from Pre-K through 6th grade, with every student qualifying for free or reduced lunch, reflecting a community with high economic needs.

While C.B. Partee has historically ranked in the lower quartile of Arkansas elementary schools, it has shown a remarkable one-year improvement, with proficiency rates nearly doubling in both English Language Arts (from 16.6% to 32.2%) and Math (from 18.3% to 31.3%) between the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. This recent growth is the most dramatic among nearby schools, though it still trails Des Arc Elementary School (53rd percentile, 3 stars) and Palestine-Wheatley Elementary School (31st percentile, 2 stars). A standout bright spot is 4th-grade reading, where students achieved a 50% proficiency rate—nearly 10 points above the state average. The school also benefits from a favorable student-teacher ratio of 12.6:1, which is better than both Des Arc (15.5:1) and Palestine-Wheatley (14.9:1).

One of the most interesting findings is the "efficiency paradox": C.B. Partee spends $15,952 per student—significantly more than higher-performing Des Arc ($10,565) and Palestine-Wheatley ($11,676)—yet does not achieve comparable results. This suggests that the high level of poverty (100%) may create needs that are more expensive to address, or that resources could be allocated differently. However, when compared to Clarendon Elementary School (9th percentile, 0 stars), which also serves 100% economically disadvantaged students, C.B. Partee outperforms it in every subject by a wide margin (e.g., 32.2% vs. 16.4% in ELA). The key question is whether the recent dramatic improvement represents a sustainable trend or a one-year anomaly, as the school's rank has fluctuated in the past.