Best Elementary Schools in Zip Code 42503

ZIP code 42503 has five elementary schools in Pulaski County; four serve KSA-tested elementary grades, while Memorial Education Center serves prekindergarten through kindergarten. In the available 2025–2026 results, schools averaged 17 percentage points above the matching state results, making the area’s overall performance stronger than the state average.

Oak Hill Elementary School and Northern Elementary School stand out: Oak Hill led six of ten reported grade-and-subject comparisons, and Northern led the other four. The differences can be substantial: in fourth-grade reading, Oak Hill scored 74% versus 42% at Shopville Elementary School, a 32-point spread; in fifth-grade editing and mechanics, Oak Hill’s 77% was 35 points above Shopville’s 42%. Shopville had the lowest reported score in six comparisons, while Pulaski Elementary School was lowest in four. Still, being lowest among local schools did not always mean falling below the state: Shopville’s fifth-grade writing score was 39%, four points above the state.

Across 35 results available in both years, school scores changed by an average of about 2 points lower from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while Northern’s six matched results rose by an average of about 6 points. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentiles were 95 for Oak Hill and 98 for Northern in 2025–2026; Northern’s rank also improved from 22nd to 16th, while Shopville’s moved from 122nd to 236th. Among KSA-tested schools, ratios ranged from 13.4 students per teacher at Northern to 16.2 at Oak Hill. The reported free/reduced lunch eligible measure for 2024–2025 ranged from 55% to 67% across all five schools; Northern and Shopville were close on this measure, at 66% and 67%, yet Northern scored 27 points higher in fourth-grade reading and 24 points higher in fifth-grade reading. These figures describe differences, not their causes; some test scores are suppressed.