Western Grove Elementary, Western Grove AR

Original Research by School Decision on Western Grove Elementary

Western Grove Elementary serves kindergarten through sixth grade in the small rural town of Western Grove, Arkansas, located on U.S. Highway 65 in the northeastern corner of Newton County. It is one of three elementary feeder campuses in the Ozark Mountain School District, a district that underwent a significant restructuring around 2022-2023. Before that change, each of the district’s three communities—Bruno-Pyatt, St. Joe, and Western Grove—had its own K-12 school. The district consolidated its secondary grades into a single Ozark Mountain High School, housed in the former Western Grove High School building. For families in this community, that means children in grades seven through twelve now attend a shared regional high school, a lasting shift in the school landscape.

The student body at Western Grove Elementary is small and predominantly white, with a very small share of Hispanic students and students of two or more races. Nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals. The school’s demographics reflect the economic realities of the town, where the largest employers are the school itself and a lumber company, and where the population has been in a long-term decline, a pattern typical of many small rural Ozark communities.

On the Arkansas ATLAS assessments, the school’s proficiency rates are low across all three tested subjects—math, English language arts, and science—and across all tested grade levels from third through sixth. In every grade and subject, the share of students scoring at the proficient or advanced level is well under a third. In math, the highest rate among the four grade levels is in fourth grade, while fifth and sixth grade rates are in the single digits. In English language arts, fourth grade is the strongest at about a quarter of students proficient, but the other grades are noticeably lower. In science, rates are similarly modest, with a drop to a very low share in fifth grade. Overall, the comparison to other school districts in Newton County places this school’s proficiency index in the bottom quartile.

A few notes about what the available data does and does not cover. Because this is an elementary school serving only through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The data does not include chronic absenteeism figures, discipline metrics, or course access information; a parent may wish to ask the school directly about attendance patterns and what enrichment or intervention programs are available. Information on special education and English learner populations was also not reported in the available data. The school does not appear to have a charter or magnet designation, and its Title I status is not provided in the current record.

For families considering this school, the core academic picture is straightforward. Proficiency rates are low, and the district comparison reinforces that. The town itself is very small, with limited commercial activity, a declining population, and a highway-oriented layout. The school is a community anchor and a significant local employer alongside the lumber company. The 2023 restructuring means that elementary students here will eventually move to a consolidated high school setting rather than continuing at a local K-12. The housing context in the area shows a change in home values over the past year that is below the state and national benchmarks, which a family looking at the local real estate market may want to investigate further against their own needs.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 317%

School 17% · District 20% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 16% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median

Grade 69%

School 9% · District 31% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 22% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 28% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 58%

School 8% · District 20% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 39% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median

Science

Grade 313%

School 13% · District 20% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 28% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median

Grade 54%

School 4% · District 25% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median

Grade 622%

School 22% · District 36% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

This schoolOZARK MOUNTAIN 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.