Summary:
Zip code 72534, located in the rural community of Floral, Arkansas, is served by a single school, Midland Elementary School, which educates 291 students from Pre-Kindergarten through 6th grade as part of the Midland School District.
Midland Elementary School is a high-poverty school with a 100% free/reduced lunch rate, and it spends a substantial $19,704 per student. Despite this high investment, the school's overall academic performance is in the bottom quarter of the state, earning a 1-star rating and ranking in the 22nd percentile. The school struggles significantly in core subjects, with proficiency rates in English Language Arts (27.1%), Reading (27.8%), and Mathematics (25.6%) all well below state averages. A major concern is 4th grade Mathematics, where only 6.5% of students are proficient, compared to the state average of 47%. However, Science is a clear strength, with the school's overall proficiency rate (39.1%) much closer to the state average (44%), and 6th graders actually outperforming the state in both Reading and Science. The 6th grade class is the top-performing grade level across all subjects, showing that the school can achieve strong results.
The school's performance has been on a declining trajectory, dropping from a 2-star rating (35th percentile) in 2023-2024 to its current 1-star rating. The contrast between high spending and low performance, combined with the severe weakness in 4th grade Math and the promising results in 6th grade Science, suggests that while the challenges of poverty are profound, targeted interventions and replicating the successful strategies seen in the upper grades could be key to improvement. The student-teacher ratio of 14.5:1 provides a reasonable foundation for such efforts.
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