Cabe Middle School, Gurdon AR - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Cabe Middle School

Cabe Middle School is no longer operating. The school has a closed status, so what follows is a record of what was on the ground during its final year, not a portrait of an active choice for a family today.

The school served middle grades and was part of the Gurdon School District, which covers Gurdon, a small, rural railroad town in southern Clark County, Arkansas. The town was founded in the 1870s as a stop on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway and sits along U.S. Route 67, about a fifteen-mile drive southwest of Arkadelphia. Gurdon has been losing population since the 1980s. The 2020 census counted fewer residents than the decade before, and the estimated decline has continued into the mid-2020s. The built fabric is modest residential streets and highway-front commercial uses, typical of a low-density rural place. Walkability is limited. The Union Pacific Railroad still runs through town, and the historic train depot and the Cabe Public Library serve as civic anchors. The Gurdon Light, a folk phenomenon by the railroad tracks, is a local cultural landmark. No major new housing or commercial development has been publicly reported. The district is the likely largest public-sector employer.

Because Cabe Middle School is closed, state testing data from its last year of operation is the only academic record available, and it is thin. The school administered the ACT Aspire and Dynamic Learning Maps assessments. In mathematics, proficiency rates by grade level ranged from roughly a fifth of students meeting the bar in grades seven and eight to just under half in grade five. Grade six fell in between. In English language arts, the pattern was similar: roughly two in five students scored proficient or above in grades five and eight, while about a quarter did so in grades six and seven. Science showed roughly three in ten proficient in grades five and six, falling to under a quarter in grade seven and recovering slightly in grade eight. The data does not include tested student counts or participation rates, which makes it difficult to assess how representative these results are. A parent in those years would have wanted to ask the school about those details.

No enrollment, demographic, or free-or-reduced-price-meal data was available. No information about staffing, discipline, or course access was recorded in the available sources. Because the school served only middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The district brief turned up no information on recent changes of lasting impact to the district.

For a family looking at this town now, the school is not an option. The Gurdon School District continues to operate Gurdon High School, and families with middle-grade students would need to check directly with the district about current school arrangements. Given the town's declining population and the school's closure, this is a community whose school footprint has contracted. A family moving to Gurdon today would need to confirm which school buildings are active and what the district's current configuration looks like.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 26% · ▲ 22 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

Grade 643%

School 43% · District 38% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 720%

School 20% · District 35% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 20% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 28% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 8 pts above state median

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 45% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 723%

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

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 26% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median

Science

Grade 530%

School 30% · District 34% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 629%

School 29% · District 35% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 42% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 23% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median

This schoolGURDON 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.