McGehee Elementary School

McGehee Elementary School in McGehee, AR, serves 547 students from Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade and is part of the McGehee School District, which has a 1-star rating and ranks 193rd out of 251 districts in Arkansas.

McGehee Elementary stands out from nearby schools like Reed Elementary and Dermott Elementary with its strong math performance—46.7% of students are proficient, which is above the state average of 44.1% and far higher than Reed (13.0%) and Dermott (20.0%). However, the school faces challenges in English Language Arts (ELA) and reading, where only 33.7% and 32.7% of students are proficient, respectively, both below the state average. A notable concern is a "5th grade cliff" in reading and science: 4th graders achieve 38.5% reading proficiency, but 5th graders drop to just 25.0%, and science proficiency falls from 44.3% in 4th grade to 21.9% in 5th grade. This pattern does not appear in math, where 5th graders (50%) outperform 4th graders (47.1%).

The school has shown a mixed performance history, rising from a low of the 13th percentile in 2016-2017 to a peak of the 65th percentile in 2022-2023, but then declining to the 36th percentile for the 2025-2026 school year. Serving a population where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, the school spends $15,151 per pupil—higher than the state average but less than nearby Dermott ($22,192) and Reed ($19,505). This spending efficiency yields better outcomes in math and ELA compared to its neighbors, but the recent decline suggests that strategies that drove earlier success may need to be refreshed, particularly in literacy instruction.