Maumelle Charter Middle School, Maumelle AR

Original Research by School Decision on Maumelle Charter Middle School

Maumelle Charter Middle School is a public charter school serving grades four through seven, part of the Academics Plus Public Charter Schools district. The school is located in Maumelle, a planned suburb of Little Rock that is frequently described as one of the more affluent communities in Arkansas. Maumelle lacks a traditional downtown but offers a network of municipal bike trails, recreational lakes, and parks. Major employers in the area include Molex and Kimberly-Clark, and many residents commute into the Little Rock metropolitan area for work.

Charter schools operate with a degree of autonomy from some state regulations, and this school is a tuition-free public option for families living within and around Pulaski County. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller share of Black students and smaller groups of Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure that suggests the school serves a comparatively lower proportion of low-income households than many other public schools in the region.

The school’s academic profile on state assessments shows a clear pattern. For the most recent testing year, fourth graders posted strong results across all three subjects: a high share scored proficient or above in math, English language arts, and science. By fifth grade, proficiency rates dropped noticeably, settling at a level near the midpoint of the range. Sixth-grade results were the weakest, particularly in math and science, where a relatively small share of students met the proficiency bar. Seventh graders rebounded somewhat in science and held a steady rate in English, but math remained a soft spot.

When compared across districts in Pulaski County, Maumelle Charter Middle School’s overall proficiency index sits in the top quartile among the districts for which data was available. That is a strong relative position. Still, the drop-off between fourth grade and the upper grades is a pattern a parent may want to discuss with the school, especially around how curriculum and instruction change as students move through the middle grades. The data does not include information on how many students receive special education services or are classified as English learners, so that picture is incomplete.

Housing in the area is priced well above the state median, and rents have seen a mild decline recently. The broader national context shows a 30-year fixed mortgage rate that has hovered in the mid-six percent range, which shapes affordability for anyone buying in. Maumelle has been a fast-growing community over the last several decades, and that growth appears steady.

The district brief turned up no major recent changes to report. No curriculum shifts, property-tax referendums, or leadership transitions were confirmed in publicly available sources. The school itself does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to evaluate.

For a family considering this school, the most salient question is how the academic trajectory looks from fourth grade through seventh. The early grades show strong performance. The later grades show a retrenchment, especially in math and sixth-grade science. The school’s relative standing among other districts in the county is favorable, but the grade-level pattern is uneven, and that is worth exploring directly with the administration or during a visit. The peer environment is one of a largely white, upper-middle-income student body in a planned suburban community with good recreational amenities and a short commute to Little Rock.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 66% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 50 pts above county median

Grade 549%

School 49% · District 47% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 35% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 37% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 66% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 41% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 46% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 46% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

Science

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 65% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 41% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 31% · ▲ 2 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 759%

School 59% · District 56% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 33 pts above county median

This schoolACADEMICS PLUS PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS, 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income25%Higher-income59%34 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income52%21 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income32%Higher-income68%35 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income52%Higher-income51%0 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income28%Higher-income65%38 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income49%18 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income19%Higher-income50%31 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income42%Higher-income58%16 pp gap