Summary:
The two schools in zip code 72013, South Side Elementary School and South Side High School, serve 518 students in the rural South Side School District (Van Buren) in Bee Branch, Arkansas, and are marked by high poverty levels yet notable academic strengths.
South Side Elementary School stands out for its exceptional performance in mathematics, with an overall proficiency rate of 51.1% that exceeds the state average of 44.1%. This strength is most evident in 6th grade, where 61.8% of students are proficient—16.7 percentage points above the state. The school has shown a positive trend in state rankings, moving from the 56th percentile to the 62nd percentile before settling at the 57th percentile. In contrast, South Side High School excels in English Language Arts and Reading, with proficiency rates of 43.1% and 44.3% respectively, both above state averages. The high school also boasts a strong graduation rate of 94.2% and a low dropout rate of 1.2%, supported by a very low student-teacher ratio of 7:1.
A key finding is the dramatic drop in math performance from elementary to high school. While the elementary school excels in math, the high school's overall math proficiency is just 35.6%, well below the state average of 44.1%, with particularly low scores in 8th-grade math (16.1%) and Geometry (20.9%). However, the high school shows a surprising strength in Algebra I, with a 44.9% proficiency rate that is 8 points above the state average. The district invests heavily, spending over $17,000 per student, which likely contributes to the high graduation rate and strong elementary math outcomes despite 98.8% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. Both schools have maintained a consistent 3-star rating from Schooldigger, indicating stable, reliable performance in a challenging environment.
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