Annie Camp Junior High School

Annie Camp Junior High School in Jonesboro, AR, serves 701 students in grades 7 through 9 and is part of the Jonesboro School District, where 100% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, reflecting significant economic challenges in the community.

Despite spending more per student ($13,005) than any nearby school, including top-performing Valley View Junior High School ($10,661) and Brookland Junior High School ($9,883), Annie Camp’s academic outcomes remain below state averages in core subjects. For example, 8th-grade math proficiency is 21.2%, far behind Valley View’s 45.7% and Greene County Technical Junior High School’s 62.2%. However, the school shows a “two-track” performance: while most students struggle, those in advanced courses excel, with 9th-grade geometry proficiency at 70.6% (above the state average of 59.2%) and biology at 63.7% (well above the state’s 42.7%). This suggests strong support for high-achieving students, even as the general student body faces hurdles.

Annie Camp’s challenges are shared by its district peer, Douglas MacArthur Junior High School, which also has 100% poverty and similar performance. Both schools contrast sharply with nearby schools like Valley View (30.9% poverty) and Brookland (27.8% poverty), where proficiency rates are often double or triple. After a decade of ranking in the bottom quarter of Arkansas middle schools, Annie Camp improved to the 34th percentile in 2025-2026, its highest rank in ten years. This slight upward trend, combined with a favorable student-teacher ratio of 13.1:1, indicates that resources are being directed toward the school, but the primary battle remains addressing the systemic effects of poverty on student readiness and learning.