Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 72112

In zip code 72112 (Newport, Arkansas), there is one middle school, Newport Junior High School, serving grades 6 and 7 with a total enrollment of 154 students.

Newport Junior High School is part of the Newport School District, which holds a 1-star rating and ranks in the 20th percentile statewide. The school itself has a 2-star rating and ranks 215th out of 327 middle schools in Arkansas. It has a very low student-teacher ratio of 8.9, which typically allows for more individualized attention, and 31.17% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. In English Language Arts and Reading, the school outperforms its district average (36.2% vs. 31.6% in ELA, and 36.9% vs. 32.5% in Reading), but still falls below state averages of 39.4% and 40.4%, respectively. The most significant challenges are in Mathematics and Science, where proficiency rates are 33.5% and 32.0%, compared to state averages of 44.1% and 44.0%.

A particularly concerning trend is the sharp decline in 7th grade math proficiency, which drops to 28.4% from 38.6% in 6th grade—a 10.2 percentage point decrease while the state average remains stable. Science proficiency is consistently low across both grades, hovering around 32%, indicating a systemic issue in the curriculum or instruction. While the school shows some relative strength in ELA compared to its district, the data suggests that its small class sizes are not translating into academic proficiency, pointing to deeper challenges in instructional quality or student preparedness that need to be addressed.