Summary:
Zip code 72852 is home to a single high school, Oark High School, a very small rural school serving grades 7 through 12 with just 77 students in the Jasper School District.
Oark High School offers an exceptionally intimate learning environment with a student-teacher ratio of 5.5:1, allowing for significant individualized attention. The school serves a community with high economic need, as 96.1% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Per-student spending is high at $25,254, likely due to fixed costs being spread across a small population. The school has shown clear improvement, rising from a 1-star rating (14th percentile) in 2024-2025 to a 2-star rating (32nd percentile) in 2025-2026, ranking 199th out of 293 schools statewide.
Academically, the school presents a mixed picture with a notable strength in Science, where 51.8% of students are proficient—nearly 8 points above the state average. However, proficiency in Mathematics (36.4%), English Language Arts (35.4%), and especially Geometry (9.1%) falls well below state averages. The dropout rate is 2.8%. While the high spending does not yet translate to top-tier results across all subjects, the school's recent upward trend and strong science performance suggest positive momentum in this tight-knit rural community.
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