The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in Math. The lowest is 29% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Palestine-wheatley Elem. Sch.
Palestine-Wheatley Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through sixth grade in the small St. Francis County town of Palestine. It is the elementary campus of the Palestine-Wheatley School District, which was formed by the merger of the Palestine and Wheatley districts. The town itself is an agricultural community with a deeply rooted rural character, where cotton, rice, and soybeans are the main crops. By 2020, the commercial core had shrunk to a single grocery store on Main Street, and the population has been in sustained decline for decades. Housing in the area is notably affordable compared to state and national benchmarks, which is consistent with the broader economic picture of a town that has lost population and commercial activity.
The school enrolls a predominantly white student body, with a substantial share of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. Nearly all students come from families with low household incomes, as reflected in the very high rate of eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. This is a school serving a community with significant economic need, and the data on special populations such as students with disabilities or English learners was not available in the materials reviewed.
On state assessments administered through Arkansas’s ATLAS program, the school’s overall proficiency index falls above the midpoint when compared to other school districts within St. Francis County. This places it on the stronger side of a small cohort of county districts. However, performance varies noticeably across grades and subjects. In the lower elementary grades, a moderate share of students met the proficiency benchmark in math and reading, while in the upper grades, particularly fifth and sixth, the proportion reaching that level was lower, especially in math. Results in science followed a similar pattern, with stronger outcomes in third and fourth grades and a decline in fifth and sixth. A parent considering this school may want to ask the school directly about how it supports students in the transition through the upper elementary years, where the assessment results suggest a shift in academic momentum.
Because this is an elementary school that does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The district does include a high school elsewhere in the community, but the data provided does not include its outcomes. Information on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, and staffing was also not available in the materials used for this profile.
The school is located in a town that has maintained a small set of civic anchors, including two of the county’s oldest active congregations, and sits along Interstate 40 and Highway 70. The built environment is spread out and rural, with limited walkability and no public transit or public library identified in available sources. For families already rooted in this area, the school represents the local elementary option within a district that has consolidated and rebuilt its facilities over time. For families considering moving to Palestine, the housing is more affordable than much of the state, but the community is one that has experienced a long population decline and offers very little commercial activity. The academic profile of the elementary school is mixed: it stands relatively well among its few neighboring districts, yet the drop in proficiency in the older elementary grades is a pattern that warrants attention.
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