Arkansas school report cards

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today reported grades for the state's school districts based on a study by the Arkansas Policy Foundation, which describes itself as "a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that analyzes the impact of public policy on Arkansas and makes recommendations."

According to the report, the top-scoring districts earning A's or A-'s include Fayetteville, Bentonville, Conway, Bryant, Searcy, Lake Hamilton, Valley View, and Parkers Chapel.

The failing districts, with F grades, are Forrest City, Dermott, Augusta, Helena-West Helena, Turrell, Earle, Hughes, Dollarway, and Hermitage.

Pulaski County's three districts all received C's. Most districts statewide received either B or C grades. You can read the entire report online. See this summary. And here. The foundation does a good job of revealing all their data broken down by school district. Superintendents and school board members will want to take a good look.

I wish I could show you the map that accompanied the newspaper article. The districts earning A's are largely located in the northwest part of the state, in the Arkansas River valley, and in the Ouachita Mountains. The districts earning F's are found in eastern and southeastern regions -- that is to say, most of them are Delta districts. What a surprise! Only one district in south Arkansas, Parkers Chapel near El Dorado, received an A.

The poorest-performing districts have dramatically higher percentages of students eligible for free lunches, single-parent households, and lower percentages of adults with at least a high-school education. Many of the heads of households are grandparents, usually grandmothers. No mention is made in the newspaper article of racial percentages.

The newspaper report quoted the Hughes superintendent as stating that comparisons between Delta schools with other schools is like comparing apples and oranges. Agreed. That shows how bad conditions are.