Summary:
In zip code 71667, there is one middle school, Star City Middle School, serving grades 6 through 8 with 322 students in the Star City, Arkansas area, a community where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a high-poverty environment.
Star City Middle School shows a dramatic split in performance by grade level. While 6th and 7th graders significantly underperform state averages in nearly every subject—for example, 6th-grade Math proficiency is just 23% compared to the state’s 45.1%—8th graders consistently outperform the state in all core subjects, including Math (51.3% vs. 36.2%) and Science (46% vs. 42.9%). This "8th Grade Effect" suggests a possible turnaround or a uniquely strong cohort. The school’s standout strength is Algebra, where 84.6% of 8th graders are proficient, well above the state average of 73.9%. Overall, the school lags behind state averages in English Language Arts (29.6% vs. 39.4%), Reading (31.4% vs. 40.4%), Math (33.3% vs. 44.1%), and Science (29.6% vs. 44%), but it has shown consistent year-over-year improvement in all subjects from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026.
The school is the sole middle school in the Star City School District, which ranks 189th out of 251 districts in Arkansas (25th percentile). Per-student spending is $10,457, below the national average, and the student-teacher ratio is 12.6. The school’s state ranking has been volatile but improved to 231st in 2025-2026, its best in three years. For parents, the key takeaway is that while the school faces significant challenges with poverty and overall low proficiency, it demonstrates clear strengths in 8th-grade performance and advanced math, with a positive trend of improvement that may continue.
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