Berryville Middle School, Berryville AR

Original Research by School Decision on Berryville Middle School

Berryville Middle School serves grades six through eight in the Berryville School District, located within the small city of Berryville, Arkansas. The city is one of two county seats in Carroll County and has a historic downtown square area. The local economy draws on employers like a large poultry processing plant and firearms manufacturers, and the community has a mix of residential neighborhoods and industrial employment. The population is notably diverse for the region, with a significant Hispanic presence and a sizable Pacific Islander community.

The school itself has a middle-sized enrollment for its grade band. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a community with modest household incomes. Demographically, the student body is majority white, with the largest minority groups being Hispanic students and those who identify as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

Academically, performance on state assessments, which use the ATLAS test, shows a mixed picture. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above climbs a bit across the grades, with the eighth-grade proficiency rate outperforming the sixth and seventh grades. In English language arts, the rates are fairly consistent across all three tested grades. Science proficiency rates are the strongest subject area, with the sixth-grade rate being the highest posted anywhere in the school’s testing data. When benchmarked against other districts in Carroll County, Berryville Middle School’s combined proficiency index across all subjects and grades sits above the midpoint among the three districts, though the district with the highest index in the county posts a notably stronger overall figure.

The data do not include information about chronic absenteeism or graduation rates, which is a gap. Because the school serves middle grades only, a graduation rate is not applicable here. A parent may want to ask the school directly about attendance patterns, as that information was not available in the data reviewed.

The school district itself appears stable. A search for recent parent-relevant changes to the Berryville School District found no major policy or facility changes to report in the last several years.

Berryville’s housing market reflects its small-city setting. Home values are near the statewide average, and the national unemployment rate has been steady recently. The city has grown slowly over recent decades, and local officials describe a deliberate effort to guide growth while preserving a small-town feel. Publicly reported amenities include a number of city parks, a community center, and museums. The schools are located within the city limits, integrated into the residential fabric rather than isolated.

For a family considering this school, the draw is a middle school in a stable, small-town district with a diverse student body and science performance that stands out as a relative strength. The math and reading assessment results point to a range of academic readiness among students, something a parent may wish to discuss with the school to understand how the curriculum supports students at different levels. The school sits in a community where housing is reasonably priced relative to national benchmarks, and where the local economy is anchored by several major employers.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 634%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 3 pts below state median

Grade 738%

School 38% · District 38%

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 14 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 641%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 735%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 837%

School 37% · District 37%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Science

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 12 pts above state median

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 40%

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 7 pts above state median

This schoolBERRYVILLE 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 6Lower-income31%Higher-income57%26 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income22%Higher-income54%33 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income51%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income23%Higher-income51%28 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income21%Higher-income51%31 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income19%Higher-income38%19 pp gap