The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in English language arts. The lowest is 11% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Matthews Elementary School
Matthews Elementary School is a public elementary school in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, serving kindergarten through sixth grade. It is part of the Pine Bluff School District, a district that underwent a significant change in 2021 when the state board of education ordered the Dollarway School District to merge into it, expanding the district's territory and school portfolio. In the years following, the district consolidated its high schools and middle schools into single campuses, though those reconfigurations affect secondary students and do not directly change the elementary landscape. For a parent of an elementary-age child, the most relevant district-level event is the merger, which redrew attendance boundaries and likely changed which elementary school a child in certain parts of the city and surrounding towns would attend.
Matthews itself serves a student body that is almost entirely Black, with a small share of white students and even smaller numbers of students who are Hispanic, two or more races, American Indian, or Native Hawaiian. Every enrolled student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a marker of the economic profile of the community the school draws from. The school is in Pine Bluff, a mid-sized city that is the commercial and industrial center of Jefferson County and home to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. The local economy includes health care, banking, food processing, manufacturing, a casino resort, and the Port of Pine Bluff. The city's population has been declining, and no major new housing developments were identified in publicly available information. Housing values in the area are below the state median, making the region relatively affordable compared to many parts of Arkansas.
On state assessments administered under Arkansas's ATLAS system, proficiency rates at Matthews were low across all tested subjects and grades. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above ranged from a very small fraction in fifth grade to a still small share in sixth grade. In English language arts, the highest rate was in fifth grade, where roughly one in four students met the bar, while other grades showed lower results. In science, the rates were also low, reaching roughly one in six in third and sixth grades but dropping sharply in fourth and fifth grades. Across all tested grades and subjects, the school's overall proficiency index placed it above the midpoint among the county's seven districts, meaning that while its own rates are low, they are not the lowest in Jefferson County. A parent may want to discuss with the school what instructional supports are in place for students who are not yet meeting grade-level standards, and what the school's academic improvement plan looks like.
The school serves a single grade band, kindergarten through sixth grade, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, and course access were not available in the records we reviewed. Similarly, information on special education identification rates and English learner services was missing. A parent considering Matthews should ask the school directly about class sizes, the availability of reading and math intervention programs, enrichment offerings, and how the school supports student attendance and engagement. The school is not a charter or magnet. Its website was not provided in the materials we reviewed.
For families moving to the area, the primary consideration tied to Matthews is the district's recent merger and consolidation history. The boundaries have shifted, and some families who previously would have been in the Dollarway district are now assigned to Pine Bluff schools. That means a specific address matters more than it once did for determining which elementary school a child will attend. The housing market in Pine Bluff is affordable by state standards, but the city's population is shrinking, and the local economy, while anchored by several large employers, has not generated a new housing boom. For a family weighing this school, the core facts are a high-poverty, majority-Black elementary school in a district undergoing post-merger reorganization, with state test results that show most students are not yet scoring proficient and a county context where peer districts face similar challenges.
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