Summary
Rector High School is a small, rural public school in Rector, Arkansas, serving 236 students in grades 7 through 12, with over 68% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. The school is part of the Rector School District, which has a 1-star rating and ranks 198th out of 251 districts in the state.
Rector High School shows a strong commitment to graduating its students, with a graduation rate of 92.6% that exceeds the state average of 90.1%. However, this success contrasts sharply with its academic performance, particularly in mathematics. In the most recent school year, only 2.8% of students were proficient in Algebra—a staggering 34.1 percentage points below the state average. This is dramatically lower than nearby Piggott High School, which had a 37% proficiency rate. The school does have a bright spot in reading: 10th graders achieved a 46.1% proficiency rate, which is 7.1 points above the state average and the highest among all nearby schools for that subject and grade. The school also had a notable one-year success in Biology, with 43.5% proficiency in 2024-2025, though this dropped the following year.
Compared to its closest neighbor, Marmaduke High School (just 7 miles away), Rector has a higher graduation rate but significantly lower test scores across most subjects. For example, Marmaduke’s overall Science proficiency was 39.3% versus Rector’s 26.1%, and its Mathematics proficiency was 33.8% versus Rector’s 20.8%. Rector spends $15,102 per student and maintains a low student-to-teacher ratio of 8.8:1, but these resources are not translating into strong academic outcomes, especially in math. The school’s state ranking has been volatile, ranging from the 20th to the 56th percentile over the past decade, suggesting instability in its academic model. The near-total failure in Algebra is a critical red flag that demands immediate attention, while the sporadic successes in reading and science show potential for improvement.
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