Sunnymede Elementary School, Fort Smith AR

Original Research by School Decision on Sunnymede Elementary School

Sunnymede Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the Fort Smith School District, a public system that operates across Arkansas’s second-largest city. The school sits in a residential part of Fort Smith, a regional manufacturing and healthcare hub that stretches over a large, car-dependent footprint. Housing in the area is relatively affordable, a fact that matters for families looking at the neighborhood around the school.

The student body is diverse and economically disadvantaged. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the school’s role in a lower-income section of the city. Hispanic students make up the largest group, followed by a mix of white, two or more races, Black, and Asian students, as well as a small number of American Indian or Alaska Native students. The school does not report the share of students with disabilities or English learners in the available data, so a parent who wants that information would need to ask the school directly.

Academic performance, as measured by Arkansas’s state assessments, is a soft spot. Across tested grades in math, English language arts, and science, the share of students scoring proficient or above falls below what is typical for other elementary schools in Sebastian County. The school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quarter of districts in the county. In each grade and subject, the proportion reaching proficiency is well under a third, with some grades near a fifth. These results tell a straightforward story: the majority of Sunnymede students are not yet meeting grade-level standards. A parent looking at this pattern would want to understand what academic interventions and supports the school offers, and how the school is working to move those numbers.

Because the school only goes through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. No data on chronic absenteeism or school discipline was available, nor on staffing ratios or course access beyond the core curriculum. The school’s program offerings were not listed in the data provided, so it is not possible to say whether Sunnymede offers arts, music, or other enrichment. The district as a whole, however, has made recent investments that indirectly affect the elementary experience. Fort Smith voters approved a property tax increase in 2021 to fund teacher salaries, technology, and facilities, and the district later reduced the millage rate while maintaining operations. In 2022, the district opened the Peak Innovation Center, a career and technical education facility for older students, but that has no direct bearing on an elementary school.

Sunnymede is a neighborhood elementary in a district that serves a working-class city with a strong industrial base. The peer environment is one of high economic need. For a family considering this school, the central question is whether the academic supports in place match the challenges the test scores reveal. The data does not answer that question, only flags it. A parent should visit the school, talk to the principal about how struggling students are identified and helped, and ask what resources are available for English learners or students with special needs if that is relevant. The surrounding community is affordable and auto-oriented, with the usual amenities of a midsize city: healthcare, shopping, and highway access. This is a school where outcomes lag, and the honest take is that a family choosing Sunnymede should be prepared to be an active partner in their child’s learning.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 335%

School 35% · District 33% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 38% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 522%

School 22% · District 34% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 324%

School 24% · District 31% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 37% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 36% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Science

Grade 331%

School 31% · District 31%

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

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 33% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 521%

School 21% · District 30% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 7 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.