Central Elementary School, Cabot AR

Original Research by School Decision on Central Elementary School

Central Elementary School is a public school in Cabot, Arkansas, serving pre-kindergarten through fourth grade as part of the Cabot School District. The school enrolls a student body that is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students who identify as two or more races, Hispanic, and Black. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning the school serves a population with a notable level of economic need.

Academically, Central Elementary’s state test results show that overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places the school in the top quartile relative to districts in Lonoke County. The school’s fourth grade saw stronger results than third grade in both math and English language arts. In math, about half of fourth graders met the state’s proficiency standard, while roughly a third of third graders did. A similar pattern held in English language arts and science, where fourth graders outperformed third graders by a clear margin. Still, in several subjects and grades a majority of students did not reach the proficiency benchmark, something a parent may want to look into further with the school when considering academic support.

Because Central Elementary serves only grades PK through 4, there is no high school graduation rate to report for this school. The school also did not have available data on chronic absenteeism or school discipline, and information on staffing and course access was not part of the data provided.

Cabot itself is a fast-growing residential city within the Little Rock metropolitan area. It has been described as a boomtown, with much of its growth driven by families who work in Little Rock or at the nearby Little Rock Air Force Base and choose Cabot for its lower cost of living and the reputation of its school district. The city is auto-oriented, with highways and suburban subdivisions defining much of its layout. Its downtown centers on a civic plaza that houses city hall and the police station, an area rebuilt after a tornado in a prior year. The Cabot School District is one of the city’s largest employers, and its schools are spread across the community. Central Elementary sits within this larger district context, where no recent major bond elections, curriculum overhauls, or construction projects were publicly reported in the available information.

For a family considering this school, the picture is mixed. Central Elementary is performing above the midpoint among its county peers on state tests, and fourth-grade results are notably stronger than third-grade results, which could reflect solid teaching in the upper primary grades. But proficiency rates leave room for improvement, especially in third grade, where less than a third of students were proficient in math and English language arts. The school serves a community that is growing, suburban, and connected to the Little Rock economy. A parent weighing this school would want to understand how the school supports students who are not yet at grade level and what enrichment is available for students who are.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 55% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 63% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 46% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 50% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Science

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 51% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 53% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

This schoolCABOT 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 3Lower-income29%Higher-income42%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income37%Higher-income39%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income23%Higher-income65%43 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income39%Higher-income52%13 pp gap