The top reported proficiency rate is 39% in Math. The lowest is 30% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Cedarville Middle School
Cedarville Middle School serves grades five through eight in a small, rural bedroom community set in the Ozark foothills of western Arkansas. The town of Cedarville has seen steady population growth and is primarily residential: most working adults commute south to Van Buren or Fort Smith, or north to Fayetteville. Commercial activity is thin, limited to a few small businesses along the Highway 59 corridor. The school district is the largest single local employer.
The student body is compact, with roughly similar class sizes across each of the four middle-grade levels. The overwhelming majority of students come from low-income households, as reflected in the share qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. Racially, the student population is predominantly white, with a modest share of students who identify as two or more races and a smaller Hispanic presence.
State testing results are available from the Arkansas ATLAS assessments for the most recent school year and give a mixed picture. In math, proficiency rates varied noticeably by grade: fifth and eighth graders performed at a level close to what many schools consider moderate, while sixth graders reached a higher mark. Seventh-grade math proficiency was notably lower. In English language arts, the pattern was similar but more extreme. Eighth graders posted a solid result, and fifth and sixth graders showed rates in a modest range. Seventh-grade ELA proficiency was very low, a figure a parent may want to discuss with the school to understand what supports are in place for that cohort. In science, results were more consistent across grades, clustering in a moderate range, with eighth graders posting the strongest outcome and fifth graders the weakest.
When placed against other districts in Crawford County, the school’s combined proficiency across subjects and grades sits above the midpoint of the county’s districts. This positions Cedarville Middle School as performing competitively within its immediate regional context, though the range among county districts is narrow.
No data was available on chronic absenteeism or on special education and English learner enrollment, so those aspects of the school environment cannot be assessed from the provided information. The school does not appear to offer specialized program offerings such as magnets or career academies, though the data does not detail course access for students.
For families, the school presents as a small, rural middle school serving a high-poverty community. Its academic performance is uneven across grade levels and subjects, with some bright spots in eighth-grade ELA and science and in sixth-grade math, and a clear soft spot in seventh-grade reading and math. A parent with a student entering middle school would want to understand whether the seventh-grade dip is a one-cohort issue or a pattern, and what academic interventions or enrichment the school provides. The lack of publicly reported program offerings means that families looking for specialized pathways such as advanced coursework or career-technical electives would need to ask the school directly what is available. The school’s competitive position within Crawford County is respectable, but the numbers suggest that the strongest academic experience may vary from grade to grade.
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