Bradley Elementary School, Bradley AR

Original Research by School Decision on Bradley Elementary School

Bradley Elementary School serves kindergarten through sixth grade in the town of Bradley, a very small rural community in southern Lafayette County, Arkansas. The town sits at a highway intersection and has the feel of a quiet crossroads settlement. Its population has been declining for decades, and the local economy historically centered on agriculture and the International Paper Company. The school is part of the Emerson-Taylor-Bradley School District, which formed after the former Bradley School District consolidated in the mid-2010s. For context on local housing, home values in the area are well below national medians, and the area’s unemployment rate has recently tracked close to the national average.

The student body is small. Most students are white, with a smaller share of Black students and a handful of students from other racial backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the area’s economic conditions. The school operates as a standard public elementary school, not a charter or magnet. Because it serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and no data on high school coursework such as Advanced Placement or career pathways exists here.

State assessment results from the 2024-25 school year, based on Arkansas’s ATLAS test, show that proficiency rates across math, English language arts, and science are low in most tested grades. In third grade, for example, the share of students scoring at or above proficient was modest in all three subjects. Fourth grade results were somewhat higher in science but still below what many families would consider strong. Fifth grade numbers were particularly low, especially in math. Sixth grade results were mixed but remained far below state averages. These are consistently weak figures, and a parent considering this school would want to discuss with the school or district what interventions and support are in place for students who are not yet meeting grade-level expectations.

No data was available on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, staffing ratios, or teacher qualifications, so the picture of daily operations and school climate is incomplete. The locale brief described the town as car-dependent, with no public transit and limited street life apart from an annual festival. The nearest interstate is about a fifteen-minute drive away. Housing in the area is very affordable relative to national benchmarks, and the local housing index has declined recently, consistent with the population contraction.

Because only one school district exists in Lafayette County, there is no comparison with neighboring districts to contextualize performance. That leaves the state’s own results as the benchmark, and on that scale Bradley Elementary’s academic performance presents a clear concern. A parent moving into the area or choosing among options would want to learn more about how the school is working to raise achievement, what resources are available for struggling students, and whether there are any enrichment programs that could supplement the academic day. The school’s small size and tight-knit community may appeal to families who value a familiar, rural setting, but the test results suggest that academic support will be an important topic to explore.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 310%

School 10% · District 52% · ▼ 42 pts below district

▼ 27 pts below state median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 64% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 47% · ▼ 40 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 56% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 310%

School 10% · District 40% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 54% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 48% · ▼ 34 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 43% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Science

Grade 314%

School 14% · District 53% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median

Grade 438%

School 38% · District 56% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 514%

School 14% · District 53% · ▼ 39 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median

Grade 630%

School 30% · District 43% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median

This schoolEMERSON-TAYLOR-BRADLEY 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.