The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in Science. The lowest is 25% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Clarksville Middle School
Clarksville Middle School serves sixth and seventh graders within the Clarksville School District, a public system that divides its students into six grade-specific buildings. The school is the only middle school in the district and sits in a city that functions as the county seat of Johnson County, with a mixed-use downtown, a private liberal arts university, and a corridor along Interstate 40. The student body totals several hundred children, a size that feels substantial for a two-grade school. The composition is diverse: a little under half of students identify as White, roughly a third as Hispanic, and a notable share as Asian, with smaller numbers identifying with other racial and ethnic groups. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of economic need.
On state assessments administered through Arkansas’s ATLAS system, the school’s proficiency rates fall below the midpoint compared with other districts in Johnson County. In math, roughly a quarter of sixth graders and a third of seventh graders scored proficient. In English language arts, the rates were about a quarter for both grades. Science performance was similar, with about three in ten sixth graders and a third of seventh graders reaching proficiency. The overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grade levels sits slightly below the median for the county, indicating that while the school falls within the same general range as its neighbors, it is not among the higher-performing ones. A parent may want to discuss with the school how it supports students who are not yet at benchmark, especially in literacy and math.
Because the school ends at seventh grade, there is no high school graduation rate to report, and data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, and staffing were not available in the sources used here. The district itself, which was an early adopter of take-home laptops for older students (a detail publicly reported in prior years), did not show any recent major policy changes in the available information.
Clarksville itself is a place of modest but steady population growth, with a downtown that hosts an annual peach festival and civic buildings tied to its role as county seat. Home values in the area are below the state and national medians, and rents are moderate as well, making the community relatively affordable for families. The city was struck by a significant tornado that caused damage along commercial streets and required rebuilding in parts of town, but the school’s own infrastructure and operations appear to have continued normally based on the data at hand.
For a family considering this school, the picture is one of a mid-sized middle school with a diverse student population and a high share of students from lower-income households. Academic attainment in math, reading, and science is below the midpoint when set against other districts in the county, and a careful look at how the school addresses skill gaps would be reasonable. The surrounding community offers affordable housing and a small-city setting with access to the interstate and nearby outdoor recreation. The school does not serve the upper grades, so families will also need to consider the junior high and high school that follow within the same district.
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