Summary:
The three public schools in zip code 71822, serving the Ashdown School District in Ashdown, Arkansas, educate 1,281 students from elementary through high school in a community where roughly 70% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a high level of economic disadvantage.
Ashdown Junior High School stands out as the district's academic leader, ranking in the 45th percentile—the only school in the top half of its peer group—and showing a clear upward trend in state rankings. It spends the most per student ($14,999) and benefits from a low student-teacher ratio of 9.6:1, consistently outperforming the district average in core subjects. In contrast, Ashdown Elementary School struggles with the largest enrollment (621 students) and highest student-teacher ratio (18.2:1), spending the least per student ($11,048) and ranking in the 37th percentile. Ashdown High School is a turnaround story, jumping from the 18th to the 34th percentile in one year, with ELA proficiency nearly doubling to 29.7% and a strong 91.4% graduation rate, though it still lags in overall proficiency.
Key takeaways include a "smaller is better" pattern, where schools with lower student-teacher ratios perform better, and a notable "8th grade cliff" at the Junior High, where proficiency in ELA drops to just 18.6% compared to the state average of 37.2%. The High School faces a geometry crisis, with only 10.1% of students proficient versus the state's 26.4%. Overall, the district's 2-star rating masks significant contrasts: the Junior High is a bright spot, the High School is improving rapidly, and the Elementary school is under-resourced and dragging down district performance.
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