Summary:
In zip code 72360, there is one high school, Lee High School, serving grades 7 through 12 in Marianna, Arkansas, within the Lee County School District, a small rural area where every student faces significant economic challenges.
Lee High School has 281 students and a very low student-to-teacher ratio of 5.5 to 1, with per-student spending of $18,265—well above the state average. Despite these resources, the school ranks in the bottom 15% of Arkansas high schools, and 100% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Academic proficiency is low across the board: only 22.8% are proficient in English Language Arts, 26.0% in Reading, 24.4% in Math, and 17.1% in Science, all far below state averages. The most critical area is Geometry, where just 2.6% of students are proficient, and 9th graders have a 0% proficiency rate. The graduation rate is 86.5%, with a 5.3% dropout rate.
There is a notable bright spot: from 2024-2025 to 2025-2026, English Language Arts proficiency more than doubled from 11.1% to 22.8%, and Reading nearly doubled from 13.2% to 26.0%, suggesting recent interventions may be working. Additionally, 10th graders achieved a 37.9% proficiency rate in Reading, nearly matching the state average of 39.0%, which could point to a successful program or teacher. However, the school faces a "resource paradox"—high spending and small classes have not overcome the deep impacts of poverty on learning. The gap between the 86.5% graduation rate and low proficiency scores indicates students are advancing to graduation without meeting state academic benchmarks, a key concern for parents.
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