Oark High School

Oark High School is a very small, rural school in Oark, Arkansas, serving 77 students in grades 7 through 12 as part of the Jasper School District. What makes Oark stand out is its extraordinary investment in students: it spends over $25,000 per student and has a tiny student-to-teacher ratio of just 5.5 to 1. This is dramatically higher than nearby schools like Westside High School ($12,405 per student) and Clarksville High School ($13,283 per student), and even surpasses the similarly small St. Paul High School ($17,255 per student). However, despite these resources, Oark’s academic performance has been mixed, though it is showing signs of a strong recent turnaround.

In the 2025-2026 school year, Oark jumped to a 2-star rating after several years of lower scores, with notable gains in Science and English Language Arts. Science is a clear strength: 51.8% of students are proficient, which is above the state average and the highest among nearby schools. Math remains a challenge, with overall proficiency at 36.4% (below the state average of 44.1%), and Geometry has been a persistent weak spot, with proficiency rates hovering around 9-10% in recent years. Compared to its most similar peer, St. Paul High School, Oark now has a slight edge in math, English, and science, but the massive spending gap does not translate into a dominant advantage.

Oark also serves a high-needs population, with 96.1% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, the highest rate among its peers. A concern is the rising dropout rate, which reached 2.8% in 2023-2024, higher than nearby schools like Westside High School (0.7%) and Clarksville High School (0.1%). For parents, Oark offers an incredibly personalized learning environment with small classes and high per-student spending, but the school is still working to translate these resources into consistently strong academic results across all subjects.