Original Research by School Decision on Dumas High School
Dumas High School serves grades nine through twelve in the Dumas School District, a small public high school in the Arkansas Delta town of Dumas. The school sits in Desha County, a rural agricultural area where the economy has long been rooted in farming and agricultural processing. The student body is modest in size for a high school serving four grades, and it reflects the broader demographics of the community. A substantial majority of students are Black, with a sizeable Hispanic population and smaller shares of White, Asian, and multiracial students. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is very high, essentially encompassing the entire enrollment, which is consistent with the economic profile of the town.
State testing data was not available for Dumas High School. The assessment results provided in the record are for grades three through eight, which are not served by this school. That means a parent will not find typical proficiency rates for math, English language arts, or science from the state’s ATLAS assessments here. Arkansas high school students take end-of-course exams in subjects like algebra, English, and biology, but those results were not included in the available data. A family interested in academic performance should ask the school directly for its end-of-course outcomes or the district for any additional accountability information. The graduation rate was also not reported in the data we reviewed, so that metric is another gap a prospective parent may want to investigate with the school.
No program offerings, such as Advanced Placement courses, dual enrollment opportunities, or career and technical pathways, were documented in the information provided. Without that information, it is not possible to describe the breadth of the curriculum or any specialized tracks students can pursue. The same applies to discipline statistics, staffing ratios, and attendance rates – none of those were available in the record.
The town of Dumas itself is a small Delta community that has experienced long-term population decline. Its commercial core runs along Main Street and the railroad corridor, with residential areas radiating outward. U.S. Route 65 connects the town to larger cities, providing regional access. The local housing market is considerably more affordable than the state and national averages, with home prices that place ownership within reach for many families. The Delta Technology Education Center, a civic anchor, offers college credit and workforce training courses and opened in the years after a significant tornado that damaged the town. The Dumas Commercial Historic District is listed on the National Register. No major new housing developments were identified in available searches, and the district brief turned up no recent policy or curricular changes of note for parents.
For a family considering this school, Dumas High School offers a small high school experience in a community with deep agricultural roots and an ongoing redevelopment effort. The student body is predominantly low-income, and the racial composition reflects the local population. The lack of published test scores and graduation rate means that assessing academic outcomes requires direct inquiry. A parent may want to visit the school, ask about end-of-course exam performance, college-going rates, and the specific courses and supports available, as those details are not captured in the public data provided here.
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