Bright Field Middle School, Bentonville AR

Original Research by School Decision on Bright Field Middle School

Bright Field Middle School serves fifth and sixth graders in the Bentonville School District, an area defined by rapid growth and a strong corporate presence. The school sits within one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, a place that has transformed from a small county seat into a hub of commerce and culture anchored by the world headquarters of Walmart and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Families moving here for jobs in retail, corporate services, and the expanding arts-and-tourism sector will find a middle school that handles the early years of secondary education in a growing district.

The student body is diverse for this corner of Arkansas. A small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate well below the national average, which points to an economically advantaged enrollment overall. Racially, the school is predominantly white, with a substantial Asian cohort, smaller shares of Hispanic and multiracial students, and a very small Black and Native American presence. The school’s size is moderate for a grade 5-6 configuration; each grade level enrolls a roughly equal number of students.

State testing results from the most recent school year show Bright Field Middle performing at a high level. In both math and English language arts, strong majorities of students in fifth and sixth grade scored proficient or above. Science results followed a similar pattern. When compared with other districts in Benton County, the school’s overall proficiency index places it above the median and in the top fourth of the group. The school uses Arkansas’s ATLAS assessment, and the data reflects a single year’s results, so a reader looking for trend direction will need to watch subsequent years.

Because this is a middle school serving only grades 5 and 6, there is no graduation rate to report. That is simply a function of the grade band. Similarly, the data does not include information on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or course access, so those areas are not possible to evaluate from this record. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and its Title I status was not listed in the data.

The community that feeds into Bright Field Middle is one where housing costs are elevated relative to state and national benchmarks. Home values and rents have risen over the past year, reflecting the broader pattern of in-migration and development across Northwest Arkansas. The district recently pursued a referendum and has been opening new schools to keep pace with enrollment; a parent may want to ask the school directly how those changes affect class size and facility conditions at Bright Field.

No program offerings were listed in the available data. For a school at this grade level, families often look for enrichment in music, art, foreign language, and extracurriculars, but those details are not part of this record. The school’s website would be the next stop for that information.

Bright Field Middle School presents as a high-performing academic environment in a rapidly growing suburban city with a strong economic base. Families who value strong state test results and a relatively advantaged student population will find the school’s profile straightforward. Those with questions about special education services or English learner supports should note that those counts were missing from the data and may need to be verified with the school directly.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 580%

School 80% · District 64% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

Grade 681%

School 81% · District 67% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 23 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 578%

School 78% · District 59% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 44 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 676%

School 76% · District 64% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 43 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Science

Grade 580%

School 80% · District 62% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▲ 47 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 679%

School 79% · District 67% · ▲ 13 pts above district

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

This schoolBENTONVILLE 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-income22%Higher-income76%54 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income46%Higher-income72%27 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income76%43 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income36%Higher-income83%47 pp gap