Pocahontas Upper Elementary School

Pocahontas Upper Elementary School serves 402 students in grades 4 through 6 in the Pocahontas School District, located in Pocahontas, AR, a community where a significant majority of families face economic challenges, with 74% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

This school shows promising academic improvement, with proficiency rates rising in all core subjects over the past year. For example, English Language Arts proficiency increased from 26.9% to 31.4%, and science saw a notable jump from 25.0% to 31.3%. A standout strength is 6th-grade mathematics, where 41.7% of students are proficient—just 3.4 percentage points below the state average. However, the school has a higher student-to-teacher ratio (16.5:1) compared to the nearby Pocahontas Junior High School (12.5:1), which may affect individualized attention. The school also spends slightly more per student ($9,891) than the junior high ($9,480), reflecting an investment in resources despite the challenges of high poverty.

A key concern is the academic drop-off after 6th grade. While the Upper Elementary School outperforms the Junior High School in every subject—for instance, 31.4% proficiency in English Language Arts versus 21.0%—the decline is sharpest in 7th grade, where only 17% of students are proficient in English Language Arts. This suggests the transition to junior high may need stronger support systems. Overall, Pocahontas Upper Elementary is a school on an upward trajectory, with effective practices in 6th-grade math that could serve as a model for continued growth.