Spradling Elementary School, Fort Smith AR

Original Research by School Decision on Spradling Elementary School

Spradling Elementary School serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the Fort Smith School District. It is a neighborhood public school with no charter or magnet designation. Its enrollment is small for an elementary school that spans seven grade levels, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a smaller share of white students and smaller groups of Black, Asian, and multiracial students. A large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a very high-poverty context.

State testing data from the 2024-25 school year, reflecting the Arkansas ATLAS assessment, shows proficiency rates that are well below the midpoint among elementary schools in Sebastian County. In math, roughly one in four third, fourth, and fifth graders scored at the proficient or above level. In English language arts, the picture is mixed: fourth graders performed somewhat higher than the other grades, with about one in three proficient, while fifth grade results were considerably lower, with only about one in eight students meeting the bar. Science proficiency followed a similar pattern, with fourth graders outperforming third and fifth graders. Taken together, the school’s overall proficiency index ranks in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Sebastian County. A parent considering this school will want to ask about the specific instructional strategies the school uses to raise achievement, particularly in fifth grade, where reading and math outcomes are especially soft.

No data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, or staffing was available for this school, so it is not possible to speak to those dimensions of the student experience. Because Spradling does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report.

The school is located in Fort Smith, a mid-sized city that functions as a commercial and employment hub for western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. Manufacturing, healthcare, and education anchor the local economy, with large plants from companies such as Rheem, Trane, and Mars Petcare, along with the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and major hospital systems. The city’s built environment is spread out and car-dependent, and the housing market in the zip code around Spradling shows typical home values below the state average, with rents that are moderate relative to local incomes. This suggests a neighborhood where housing costs are accessible, but where many families face economic pressures.

The Fort Smith School District has made several parent-relevant moves in recent years. Voters approved a property tax increase in 2021 to raise teacher salaries, upgrade technology, and improve facilities; a subsequent board action in 2023 lowered the millage rate slightly, reducing the tax burden on residents. In 2022, the district opened the Peak Innovation Center, a regional career and technical education facility offering programs in advanced manufacturing, health sciences, and information technology at no cost to students. While that facility primarily serves older students, it signals a district-level commitment to expanding career pathways that could benefit Spradling families as their children move through the system.

Spradling Elementary is a high-poverty school with academic outcomes that lag behind most others in the county. A parent choosing this school will want to understand what supports are in place for struggling readers and math students, and how the school engages families around learning at home. The district’s recent investments and its stable if modest local economy provide some context, but the central academic challenge remains substantial.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 322%

School 22% · District 33% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 424%

School 24% · District 38% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 34% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

English language arts

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 31% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 37% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 36% · ▼ 24 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 324%

School 24% · District 31% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 6 pts below county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 33% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 30% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

This schoolFORT SMITH 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.