Clarksville High School

Clarksville High School in Clarksville, AR, serves 598 students in grades 10 through 12 and is part of the Clarksville School District, which is ranked in the bottom 22nd percentile of Arkansas school districts.

While the school has a strong graduation rate (94.4% in 2020-2021) and a very low dropout rate (0.1%), its academic performance has been on a steady decline. The most significant concern is in mathematics, particularly Geometry, where only 8.4% of students were proficient in the most recent school year—far below the state average of 26.4%. This is a chronic issue, with proficiency rates hovering around 3% in prior years. In contrast, nearby Lamar High School, located just 6.46 miles away, has a similar percentage of students on free/reduced lunch (71.74% vs. 99.19%) but achieves far better results, with Geometry proficiency at 33.6% and overall academic performance trending upward. Clarksville’s English Language Arts (30%) and Reading (33.5%) scores are also below the state average, though not as dramatically as its math scores. The school spends $13,283 per student and has a student-teacher ratio of 13.2:1, which is higher than all nearby schools like Paris High School (7.7:1) and Oark High School (5.5:1).

Despite these challenges, there are some positive signs. Biology proficiency improved to 29.1% in the most recent year, and the school’s ability to keep students enrolled and on track to graduate is commendable. However, the comparison with Lamar High School suggests that socioeconomic factors alone do not determine outcomes, and that instructional strategies and school culture play a critical role. For parents, the key takeaway is that Clarksville High School is effective at graduating students but urgently needs to address its math curriculum and instruction, especially in Geometry, to provide a stronger academic foundation. The school’s declining trajectory and the success of a nearby peer highlight the potential for improvement with targeted interventions.