Bauxite Middle School, Bauxite AR

Original Research by School Decision on Bauxite Middle School

Bauxite Middle School, serving grades six through eight in the Bauxite School District, sits in a small Saline County town that was built around the bauxite mining industry and has since reinvented itself as a bedroom community for the Little Rock area. The school’s enrollment is moderate for a middle school, and its student body is overwhelmingly white, with small shares of Hispanic, black, and Asian students, and a few students who identify as two or more races. More than two out of five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school solidly within a middle-income range.

On the state’s ATLAS assessments, Bauxite Middle School’s results follow a common pattern but with an uneven grade-level slide. In sixth grade, math proficiency was solid, with a majority of students meeting the proficient or above bar, and science was similarly strong that year. Seventh grade continued that trend in science, the strongest subject that year. Eighth grade, however, saw a sharp drop in math: far fewer students reached proficiency, a notable soft spot that a parent may want to look into further with the school. English language arts proficiency held fairly steady across all three grades, landing in the range below half of students scoring proficient, with a slight dip by eighth grade. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint when compared with other districts in Saline County, a solid showing.

The school’s setting is a distinguishing feature. Bauxite was a company town for Alcoa, and after mining operations ended and the company withdrew, the town incorporated and has been growing again as a commuter hub. The town had experienced a rapid population increase in recent years, and the housing market reflects moderate costs, roughly in line with regional trends. The Bauxite School District operates three schools: the middle school, Pine Haven Elementary, and the high school. A small portion of the town falls within the Bryant School District instead, so attendance boundaries are something for a new resident to verify. High school football (the Bauxite Miners) is a major community event, and the town’s museum and community center, housed in a historic Alcoa-built building, serve as civic anchors. There is no traditional walkable downtown; street life is minimal.

No recent school-level program offerings, discipline data, or attendance figures were reported for this profile, so it is not possible to assess course access or school climate directly. The district search found no recent major changes such as a curriculum overhaul or tax referendum, so the school appears to be operating on a stable footing.

For a family, Bauxite Middle School offers a middle-of-the-road academic profile with a county-competitive overall score, a peer environment that is mostly homogenous, and a community that is small, historically rooted, and growing. The eighth-grade math performance is the most significant concern in the data, and anyone considering the school for an older child may want to ask how the school supports students who arrive at that grade level below proficiency. Otherwise, the school presents a solid, unflashy option in a central Arkansas town that is finding its footing after a long industrial past.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 661%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 23 pts above state median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 28%

even with state median

English language arts

Grade 640%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 38%

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 834%

School 34% · District 34%

▲ 5 pts above state median

Science

Grade 650%

School 50% · District 50%

▲ 17 pts above state median

Grade 762%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 27 pts above state median

Grade 839%

School 39% · District 39%

▲ 5 pts above state median

This schoolBAUXITE 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income8%Higher-income27%20 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income34%Higher-income44%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income13%Higher-income44%31 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income22%Higher-income44%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income69%26 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income28%Higher-income62%34 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income19%Higher-income34%16 pp gap