Anne Watson Elementary School, Bigelow AR

Original Research by School Decision on Anne Watson Elementary School

Anne Watson Elementary School serves the rural community of Bigelow, Arkansas, from kindergarten through sixth grade, and is the sole elementary school within the East End School District. The town itself is a very small, quiet residential place in eastern Perry County. Once a timber boomtown, Bigelow now has only a grocery store and a barber shop, and residents drive to Conway or Morrilton for most services. The area is not growing in any substantial way, and the housing stock is modest; home values sit near the state average but below the national one, and the monthly mortgage cost on a typical home is manageable by national standards. The school is the town’s primary civic anchor, sitting near its compact center.

The student body, which serves a little more than a single grade per section across its seven grades, is overwhelmingly white. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a higher-poverty context than many of its peers in the county. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, so a parent wanting to understand special education or language support services would need to ask the school directly.

On the state’s ATLAS assessments, the proficiency rates show an uneven pattern across subjects and grades. In math, proficiency is highest in fifth grade and falls to a much lower rate in fourth grade, with third and sixth grades landing in between. In English language arts, the pattern is similar: third grade students show a higher rate of proficiency, while fourth grade drops sharply, and fifth and sixth grades fall closer to the lower end. Science scores follow a comparable shape, with third grade notably stronger than the others. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index lands modestly above the midpoint among the two districts in Perry County. This is a small comparison set, so the position reflects being the stronger of two, but the absolute rates are ones a parent would want to explore further with the school, particularly the dips in fourth grade.

Because Anne Watson is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate, and no data on chronic absenteeism was available. The district has no recent major changes or restructuring to report from publicly available sources. The school operates as a traditional, non-charter, non-magnet campus within a district that covers a rural, low-density area. There are no documented program offerings, which is common for a school of this size and setting, but a parent should ask about enrichment, art, music, or intervention programs directly.

For a family considering Bigelow, the picture is straightforward. This is a small, rural school serving a small, quiet town with limited local economy and few amenities. The academic results are mixed, with some grades showing reasonable proficiency and others falling well below, and the overall profile is that of a school serving a high-poverty population in a district with only two schools. Parents moving here for a slower, simpler way of life will find a tight-knit community anchored by its elementary school, but should go in knowing the academic numbers and ask the school about the grade-level variation, support for struggling students, and what programs the small enrollment allows.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 338%

School 38% · District 38%

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 546%

School 46% · District 46%

▲ 13 pts above state median

Grade 641%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 4 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 43%

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 632%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 1 pts below state median

Science

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 21 pts above state median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 41%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 3 pts above state median

This schoolEAST END 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 3Lower-income36%Higher-income42%6 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income17%Higher-income55%37 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income43%Higher-income57%14 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income27%Higher-income41%14 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income23%Higher-income33%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income30%Higher-income64%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income50%4 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income30%Higher-income41%12 pp gap