Western Yell Co. Elem. School, Belleville AR

Original Research by School Decision on Western Yell Co. Elem. School

Western Yell County Elementary School serves kindergarten through sixth grade in Belleville, a small rural city in Yell County, Arkansas. The school is one of two campuses in the Western Yell County School District; elementary students attend here, while high school students travel to Havana, several miles west. The school itself is a modest building within the town, not on a separated campus.

This is a small school, with a student body that is predominantly white. Hispanic students make up a notable share, and there is a small Asian population. Nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the high poverty level of the surrounding community. The town’s principal employment is in the poultry industry, and the area is dotted with chicken houses and cattle farms. Belleville has been in population decline over recent decades, with no major new housing or commercial development identified. Families moving here should expect a quiet, car-dependent setting with most commerce along State Highway 10 rather than a traditional downtown.

Academically, the school participates in Arkansas’s ATLAS state assessments for grades three through six. In math, the share of students meeting state standards was below half in every tested grade. In English language arts, the pattern was similar: a portion of students reached proficiency, but a majority did not. Science results were more varied; some grade levels showed a stronger share of students meeting standards, while others were lower. When compared to other districts in Yell County, this school’s overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint among the four district-level entities in the county. That is a relative strength, though the absolute proficiency rates leave room for growth. A parent may want to ask the school about its approach to math and reading intervention, especially given the high poverty context.

Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate, college-going data, or high school course access to report. Data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, and staffing were not available in the source material. Title I status was also not listed, though the high free-and-reduced-price lunch share suggests the school likely receives federal Title I funding. No recent property-tax shifts, curriculum changes, or district referendums were found in the research; the district appears to have been stable in recent years.

In sum, Western Yell County Elementary School is a small, rural, high-poverty school that performs modestly on state assessments but slightly above the average of other Yell County districts. It fits a family seeking a close-knit, small-town elementary experience in an area that is economically depressed and population-declining. The peer group is almost entirely low-income, and academic outcomes, while not strong in absolute terms, are competitive within the county. Families who value a very small setting and are aware of the constraints of a rural, resource-limited district may find this a suitable option for the elementary years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 320%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 5 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 330%

School 30% · District 30%

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 26%

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 4 pts above state median

Science

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 14 pts above state median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 17 pts above state median

This schoolWESTERN YELL CO. SCHOOL DIST., 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.