The top reported proficiency rate is 67% in Math. The lowest is 60% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Lincoln Junior High School
Lincoln Junior High School serves seventh and eighth graders as part of the Bentonville School District in Northwest Arkansas. It is a conventional public school, not a charter or magnet school, and its grade band means it covers the two years just before high school. There is no state testing data available for earlier grades because those grades are not tested, and there is no graduation rate because the school does not serve students through twelfth grade.
The school’s academic performance, measured by Arkansas’s ATLAS assessments in the most recent testing year, shows proficiency rates that place it comfortably above the midpoint among all schools in Benton County. In seventh-grade math, a large majority of students scored at proficient or above. In eighth-grade math, the share was still strong but a little lower. On the English language arts tests, seventh graders again posted a large majority at the proficient level, while eighth graders showed a more modest share. In science, both grade levels recorded solid proficiency rates, with seventh graders slightly ahead of eighth graders. Taken together, the overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades sits in the top quartile relative to other districts in Benton County, which is a competitive set given the region’s generally strong school performance.
The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller share of Hispanic students, a still smaller share of Black students, and modest numbers of Asian, multiracial, Native American, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students combined. About one in five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of economic need that is lower than the national average. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available for this school year, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the support structures for those populations.
The school sits within the city of Bentonville, a place that has changed rapidly over a relatively short span. Once a small county seat, it is now one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, driven overwhelmingly by Walmart’s corporate headquarters and the cultural draw of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The downtown area has a historic square with shops and restaurants, and the city has invested heavily in trails and public spaces. The housing market reflects the growth. Home values in the school’s ZIP code are substantially higher than the state median, and rents are similarly elevated. For a family moving into the area, this means buying or renting in the attendance zone comes at a premium, but it also places a student in a community with a strong economic base.
The district context shows a system that has been managing growth. Publicly reported information indicates the district has put recent bond referendums before voters to fund facilities and that new school openings have been part of the response to the area’s population increase. A parent with young children who will move through this pipeline into Lincoln Junior High in a few years may want to check whether the district’s attendance boundaries shift as new schools open, but for a family already in the zone, the school is a stable middle-grades option within a fast-growing region.
For a family weighing Lincoln Junior High, the picture is of a school that delivers above-average academic results in a prosperous, rapidly expanding community. The student body is not especially diverse, and the economic need level is low, which shapes the peer environment. The school’s strengths in test performance across subjects are clear. The gaps in available data around special education and English learner services are worth a follow-up conversation with the school to get a full sense of how those students are supported.
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