Summary:
In zip code 72837, there is one high school, Dover High School, serving grades 9 through 12 in the Dover School District, a 4-star district ranked 62nd in Arkansas.
Dover High School has 375 students and an exceptionally low student-teacher ratio of 4.3:1, which suggests very small class sizes. The school shows a standout performance in Biology, with 45.3% of all students proficient in 2025-2026, exceeding the state average of 42.7%. However, the school faces a significant "Algebra problem," with only 14% of students proficient compared to the state average of 36.9%. This weakness likely contributed to a volatile state ranking, dropping from 81st (4 stars) in 2024-2025 to 151st (2 stars) in 2025-2026. A puzzling gap exists between 9th and 10th grade performance; for example, 9th-grade Geometry proficiency is 68%, but 10th-grade proficiency is just 9.7%. Despite these academic challenges, the school boasts a high graduation rate of 94.1% and a low dropout rate of 1.6%.
Key metrics include spending per student of $13,519 and a free/reduced lunch rate of 54.93%, indicating moderate economic disadvantage. The school's overall test scores for 2025-2026 are mixed: English Language Arts (38.4% vs. 39.4% state), Reading (39.6% vs. 40.4% state), and Geometry (26.2% vs. 26.4% state) are all slightly below average, while Biology is above average. The low student-teacher ratio is a valuable resource that is not translating into above-average performance in most subjects, suggesting the challenge may lie in curriculum or instruction rather than class size. This creates a paradox where students graduate successfully but may not be fully prepared for college-level math or STEM careers.
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