The top reported proficiency rate is 39% in English language arts. The lowest is 36% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Drew Central Elem. School
Drew Central Elementary School serves kindergarten through fourth grade in Monticello, the county seat of Drew County and the largest town in southeast Arkansas south of Pine Bluff. The town functions as a regional commercial, educational, and medical hub anchored by the University of Arkansas at Monticello, a diversified economy in agriculture and timber, and a traditional courthouse-square downtown with historic homes on North and South Main Streets listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The population has seen slight decline in recent years, and the area remains auto-dependent, though local civic life includes the Southeast Arkansas Public Library headquarters, Lake Monticello for recreation, and the Drew County Historical Museum. The Drew Central School District, which operates this school, did not have any recent parent-relevant changes such as referendums, millage adjustments, curriculum shifts, or facility projects identified in publicly available sources.
Drew Central Elementary is a single building serving all elementary grades in the district. The school body is predominantly white, with a substantial Black student population and smaller shares of Hispanic and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the school is not a charter or magnet school. Enrollment fills each grade from kindergarten through fourth grade with roughly comparable class sizes, giving the school a feel of steady-grade cohort progression rather than dramatic year-to-year swings.
State testing results from the 2024-25 school year show a mixed picture. In third grade, roughly two in five students scored proficient or above in English language arts, with science at a similar level, while math proficiency was lower. By fourth grade, math proficiency ticked up modestly, but both English language arts and science declined compared to third-grade results. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index places it well above the midpoint among the four districts in Drew County. That county-level comparison is a narrow one, but within this set, Drew Central Elementary sits at the top. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what literacy and math interventions are available for students who are not yet meeting benchmarks, particularly given the drop in fourth-grade reading and science scores.
Because this school serves only kindergarten through fourth grade, there is no graduation rate data to report. Information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, and course access was not available in the source material. The school environment and access data sections were empty, so a full picture of student support structures, class sizes, or program offerings such as art, music, or enrichment cannot be drawn here. Families would need to visit or contact the school directly to learn about the specific instructional approach, extracurricular options, and any targeted academic interventions in place.
For a family considering this school, the housing market context may matter. Home values in the zip code area are notably lower than both the state and national benchmarks, and the estimated monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home is modest compared with larger metro areas. This makes Monticello a relatively affordable place to live on a typical southeast Arkansas income. The town itself offers a traditional small-county-seat lifestyle centered on the university, the courthouse square, and annual community events, but amenities and cultural options are limited compared with urban centers.
Drew Central Elementary fits a family looking for a small-town elementary school with a diverse student body in an affordable market, where the school performs above its very local county peers on state tests. The gaps in available data around student support programs, special education, and English learner services mean a family with a child who needs accommodations or enrichment should plan to ask pointed questions during a school visit. The school’s position as a feeder into the Drew Central district’s upper grades also means that a family’s eventual path through middle and high school will matter, and information about those later grades was not part of this profile.
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