Summary:
In zip code 71743, there is one high school, Gurdon High School, serving grades 7 through 12 in the rural community of Gurdon, Arkansas, with a total enrollment of 252 students.
Gurdon High School is part of the Gurdon School District, which holds a 1-star rating and ranks 205th out of 251 districts in Arkansas. The school has a very favorable student-teacher ratio of 9.7:1 and spends a substantial $16,666 per student, yet its academic performance consistently falls below state averages. For the 2025-2026 school year, proficiency rates in core subjects lag behind the state: English Language Arts at 26.3% (state: 39.4%), Mathematics at 32.5% (state: 44.1%), and Science at 42.1% (state: 44.0%). The most recent graduation rate (2023-2024) was 84.3%, notably below the state average of 90.1%, though the dropout rate is very low at 0.4%. A bright spot exists in 8th-grade Algebra, where 75% of students are proficient, slightly above the state average of 73.9%.
A key concern is the school's volatile state ranking, which has fluctuated dramatically from the 13th percentile in 2023-2024, up to the 40th percentile in 2024-2025, and back down to the 14th percentile in 2025-2026. This instability may be influenced by small class sizes, where a single cohort can significantly shift results. Additionally, a "10th-grade cliff" is evident, with 10th-grade proficiency dropping to just 12% in English Language Arts and Reading, and 0% in Geometry, suggesting a major academic challenge emerges in the transition to upper high school grades. While the school benefits from small classes and high per-student spending, these resources have not translated into consistent, above-average academic outcomes.
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