Summary:
The two public schools in zip code 71825, serving the small, rural community of Blevins, Arkansas, are both part of the Blevins School District, which is ranked near the bottom of the state. Randy Hughes Elementary School (grades PK-6) and Blevins High School (grades 7-12) both serve a student population where over 80% qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a high level of economic need.
While both schools are performing well below state averages, the elementary school is the relative stronghold. Randy Hughes Elementary has shown some year-over-year improvement in English and Reading, and its proficiency rates in Math (15.9%) and English (17.1%) are notably higher than the high school's rates (10.5% and 9.3%, respectively). The high school, however, presents a stark paradox: despite an exceptionally low student-teacher ratio of 4.4:1 and spending over $15,700 per student, its academic outcomes are critically low. A single bright spot exists in 9th-grade Biology, where 40% of students were proficient, far exceeding the school's other scores.
The most critical takeaway is the disconnect between high spending and low results. The district spends significantly more per student than the state average, yet both schools rank in the bottom 15% of Arkansas. The high school's graduation rate of 81.2% is also nearly nine points below the state average. This data suggests that financial resources alone are not solving the academic challenges, and that the district needs to re-evaluate its instructional strategies to address the compounding difficulties students face as they move from elementary to high school.
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