Cutter-morning Star Elem. Sch., Hot Springs AR

Original Research by School Decision on Cutter-morning Star Elem. Sch.

Cutter-Morning Star Elementary School is a kindergarten through sixth-grade public school serving a residential section of Hot Springs, Arkansas. The school’s enrollment is relatively small for a combined elementary and intermediate school, creating a setting where most students and staff likely know one another by name. A substantial share of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that places the school in a high-need economic context.

The student body is predominantly white, with a meaningful share of Hispanic students and a smaller number of students who identify as two or more races. Black and American Indian students each make up a very small portion of enrollment. The school operates as a regular public school within its own single-school district, meaning the elementary school is also the district’s only campus. Arkansas’s state testing data from the most recent year offers a mixed picture of academic performance. On the state’s ATLAS assessments, third graders produced the school’s strongest results, reaching a point where roughly half of tested students met the proficient or above bar in both reading and science, and the math proficiency rate was also the strongest of any grade. These third-grade figures decline sharply in fourth grade across all three subjects, with proficiency rates dropping into a much lower range. Performance recovers somewhat in fifth and sixth grades, settling in a mid-range zone for reading and science, though math in sixth grade was again a soft spot. A parent looking at grade-level results may want to understand whether this drop in fourth grade is a cohort effect or a pattern that persists year to year.

Placing the school’s overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades against other districts in Garland County shows it sits below the midpoint of the cohort. That single composite number is helpful context, but it bundles together the high third-grade scores and the lower fourth-grade scores; a parent may want to ask the school about specific grade-level instruction, particularly the transition into fourth grade.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and the available data did not include information on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, or staffing ratios. The district itself is small and no recent major changes were publicly reported.

Hot Springs is a known resort city and the county seat of Garland County. The city’s economy is anchored by tourism, including the historic Bathhouse Row within Hot Springs National Park, horse racing at Oaklawn Park, and a hospitality sector that supports many local jobs. Downtown is walkable in patches, with the national park’s hiking trails close at hand. Population growth has been slow and steady. For a family considering this school, the housing market in the area has seen home values and rents rise in recent periods, though the area remains more affordable than the national average.

This is a small, high-poverty elementary school where the academic numbers are uneven by grade and where fourth grade represents the hardest year across the board. For a family whose child is starting in the early grades, the third-grade results are the most encouraging in the building. For families entering at fourth grade or later, a conversation with the school about how it addresses that grade-level slump is probably worthwhile. The school’s single-district structure means a child who stays through sixth grade will move on to a different district for middle and high school, so a parent should also investigate what options exist for seventh grade and beyond in the area.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 422%

School 22% · District 22%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 349%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 637%

School 37% · District 37%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Science

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 51%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 43%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 35%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

This schoolCUTTER-MORNING STAR 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 5Lower-income34%Higher-income67%33 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income23%Higher-income36%12 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income37%Higher-income42%5 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income37%Higher-income36%1 pp gap