Thirty-fourth Street Elementary School, Pine Bluff AR

Original Research by School Decision on Thirty-fourth Street Elementary School

Thirty-Fourth Street Elementary School serves students from kindergarten through sixth grade in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, as part of the Pine Bluff School District. The school’s enrollment is modest for its grade band, and every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a clear indicator that the school serves a community with widespread economic need. The student body is overwhelmingly Black, with small numbers of white, Hispanic, multiracial, Asian, and American Indian students, making this a predominantly minority-majority school in a city that itself has a majority-Black population.

On the 2024-25 Arkansas ATLAS assessments, proficiency rates across math, reading, and science were low in every tested grade. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above ranged from the single digits in fourth grade and sixth grade to the low teens in third and fifth grades. Reading proficiency was similarly low, with fourth grade again the weakest and other grades in the low teens. Science results followed the same pattern, with the highest rates in third grade and the lowest in fourth and sixth grades. The school’s overall proficiency index placed it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Jefferson County. There are no multi-year trend data available to show whether performance is improving or declining, and the state recently changed its assessment name, which can complicate direct comparisons. A parent considering this school will want to discuss with the school what academic supports are in place and how the school is working to raise achievement.

The school environment data we looked for, such as chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, and discipline rates, were not available. Similarly, no information on course access or program offerings was provided, so it is unclear what enrichment or intervention programs exist beyond the core curriculum. Pine Bluff School District itself has undergone significant reorganization in recent years. In 2021, the state ordered the merger of the Dollarway School District into Pine Bluff, expanding the district’s territory to include the towns of Altheimer, Sherrill, and Wabbaseka. Then in 2023, the district consolidated Dollarway High School into Pine Bluff High School and moved all middle school students to a single campus. These changes have reshaped attendance zones and school assignments across a wider geographic area, though Thirty-Fourth Street Elementary appears to have remained a neighborhood elementary school serving its immediate area.

Pine Bluff is a mid-sized city that has seen population decline in recent years. Its economy is anchored by healthcare, manufacturing, and a casino resort completed in 2020. The city’s housing market reflects the broader economic challenges, with home values well below state and national averages and a year-over-year drop. For families living in the 71601 ZIP code, housing is relatively affordable, but the economic context means that the schools face the compounded challenges of poverty, population loss, and district consolidation.

For a parent evaluating Thirty-Fourth Street Elementary, the central fact is that state test results are consistently low across all subjects and grades. The school has no history of strong academic performance in the data available, and the comparison to other Jefferson County districts places it at the bottom of the pack. Some families may choose this school because of its location in the neighborhood or because it is the assigned school for their address. Others may want to investigate what specific academic interventions and supports the school provides, and whether those are producing any signs of progress. The high rate of economic disadvantage is a factor that many schools in similar settings face, but it does not by itself explain the proficiency levels. Without additional information about staffing, class sizes, or specialized programs, a parent’s next step would be to visit the school, talk to the principal, and ask directly about how the school is addressing literacy and math instruction for students who are not yet proficient.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 314%

School 14% · District 9% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 45%

School 5% · District 8% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 510%

School 10% · District 6% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 18% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 314%

School 14% · District 14%

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 46%

School 6% · District 11% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 14% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 613%

School 13% · District 18% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median

Science

Grade 314%

School 14% · District 12% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 22 pts below county median

Grade 43%

School 3% · District 4% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 511%

School 11% · District 7% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 63%

School 3% · District 10% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median

This schoolPINE BLUFF SCHOOL DISTRICT, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.