Summary:
Zip code 72447 is home to a single school, Buffalo Island Central High School, which serves grades 7 through 12 and is part of the highly-rated Buffalo Island Central School District (ranked 63rd out of 251 districts in Arkansas). With 316 students and an excellent student-to-teacher ratio of 8.9:1, the school offers a personalized learning environment where over half of the students (54.11%) qualify for free or reduced lunch, indicating a moderate level of economic need.
This school stands out as a true "math powerhouse," with 72.4% of students proficient in general Mathematics—far exceeding the state average of 44.1%. However, this strength is not uniform; Geometry proficiency is a stark contrast at just 10.6%, suggesting students excel in foundational math but struggle with abstract spatial reasoning. The school has shown impressive year-over-year improvement, with English Language Arts proficiency jumping from 33.7% to 44.3% and Mathematics from 40.0% to 72.4% between the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. Despite these gains, the graduation rate of 85.7% lags behind the state average of 90.1%, even though the dropout rate is very low at 0.6%.
Key metrics reveal a mixed but promising picture. The school spends $13,919 per student, a significant investment that appears to pay off in Mathematics but not uniformly across subjects like Reading (39.7% vs. state 40.4%) and Geometry. The district's 4-star rating and 75th percentile ranking reflect overall strong performance, while the school's state ranking has improved from 162nd in 2023-2024 to 145th in 2025-2026. For parents, this school offers a supportive, small-class environment with exceptional math instruction, though attention may be needed to bolster Geometry skills and improve the graduation rate.
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