Original Research by School Decision on Bergman High School
Bergman High School sits in a rural area north of Harrison, Arkansas, serving just the high school grades of the Bergman School District. The school’s enrollment is small for a high school, divided roughly evenly across ninth through twelfth grade. The student body is overwhelmingly White, with a small Hispanic population and a trace of American Indian or Alaska Native students, and no Black, Asian, or multiracial enrollment reported. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a share that places the school in a middle range for economic need relative to other schools in the area.
The most notable gap in Bergman High School’s profile is the absence of state assessment results. Arkansas recently changed its testing system and cut-score standards, and state testing data for the school was not reported for any tested subject or grade. A parent looking for a clear picture of academic performance in math, English language arts, or science will not find one from the most recent year. The school itself serves only grades nine through twelve, so any state tests administered in earlier grades would not apply here. Even so, the lack of high school testing data means that proficiency levels, growth trends, and subject-area strengths cannot be assessed from the public record. This is a significant soft spot for any family that relies on test scores to gauge a school’s instructional quality.
No graduation rate was reported, and the school’s data also lacks information on special education enrollment, English learner populations, chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, and staffing ratios. The brief from the district turned up no recent changes in programming, leadership, or facilities that would affect a family’s decision. The comparison with other districts in Boone County was not possible because the key metrics — proficiency, graduation rate, chronic absenteeism — all had missing values for this school.
Bergman High School is housed within the Bergman School District, which covers a primarily rural stretch of Boone County. Housing values in the area fall close to the state’s typical home price, and the local market has seen modest year-over-year appreciation. The national mortgage rate and unemployment figures are broadly in line with current economic conditions, meaning housing affordability here is neither unusually stretched nor notably easier than elsewhere in Arkansas.
Because no academic performance data, graduation data, or program offerings are available in the record, this school presents itself as essentially a blank slate for a family trying to evaluate it. The school exists, it serves a small and predominantly White student body, and about half its families are at an income level that qualifies for meal assistance. Beyond those basics, a parent would need to contact the school or district directly to learn about course pathways, Advanced Placement or concurrent credit options, extracurriculars, college-going rates, and the day-to-day academic environment. The absence of state test results and graduation figures is the single biggest factor a parent should investigate further before making a decision.
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