Summary:
In zip code 72842, there is a single high school, Western Yell County High School, serving grades 7 through 12 in the rural community of Belleville, Arkansas, with a total enrollment of 141 students.
Western Yell County High School is part of the Western Yell County School District and presents a unique profile. The school has an exceptionally low student-teacher ratio of 4.5:1 and spends $15,854 per student, well above average, yet its academic proficiency rates in subjects like English Language Arts (24.6%), Mathematics (36.2%), and Science (22.8%) fall significantly below state averages. This paradox is largely explained by the fact that 97.87% of its students are eligible for free or reduced lunch, indicating extreme economic disadvantage. Despite these challenges, the school shows a positive trend, improving its state ranking from a 1-star to a 2-star rating for the 2025-2026 school year, with notable gains in Geometry (from 3.6% to 18.2%) and Reading (from 19.2% to 33.3%).
A standout finding is that 9th-grade Reading proficiency at the school (40.9%) actually matches the state average (40.6%), suggesting a specific area of instructional strength. The school also boasts a strong graduation rate of 91.6%, slightly above the state average, and a low dropout rate of 1.4%. For parents, this school offers an intimate, highly personalized learning environment with small class sizes, but it is also a school where the deep impact of poverty on academic performance is evident. The recent upward trend in test scores and state ranking indicates that the school's investments and strategies may be starting to pay off, making it a school with both significant challenges and promising momentum.
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