Lakeside Elementary School

Lakeside Elementary School in Lake Village, AR, serves 292 students from Pre-K through 5th grade and is part of the Lakeside School District (Chicot), where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, reflecting a community with high economic need.

Despite these challenges, Lakeside Elementary shows promising signs of improvement. Between the 2023-2024 and 2025-2026 school years, test scores jumped significantly across all subjects—for example, English Language Arts proficiency rose from 17.1% to 28.5%, and reading from 14.4% to 29.9%. This upward trend is a bright spot for parents to note. The school also stands out for its efficiency: it spends about $15,179 per student, which is roughly $7,000 to $8,000 less than nearby Dermott Elementary School and Eudora Elementary School, yet it achieves comparable or better results in several areas. For instance, in 5th-grade math, 40.5% of Lakeside students were proficient—close to the state average of 45% and far above Dermott’s 16.7%.

Another interesting pattern is that Lakeside’s early literacy instruction appears strong: 3rd graders outperformed 4th and 5th graders in English Language Arts and reading in 2025-2026, suggesting the school builds a solid foundation but may need more support to sustain progress in upper grades. Compared to Portland Elementary School (75% free/reduced lunch), Lakeside faces a more concentrated level of poverty, yet its recent gains show resilience. For parents, this school offers a story of steady improvement and efficient use of resources, though continued investment in upper-grade programs could help prevent the academic slide seen in later years.