Harmony Grove Middle School, Benton AR

Original Research by School Decision on Harmony Grove Middle School

Harmony Grove Middle School serves grades four through six in the Benton area of Saline County, Arkansas. It is part of the Harmony Grove School District (Saline), one of several districts that draw attendance from parts of Benton and its surroundings. Benton itself is a suburb of Little Rock and the county seat, a community that has seen steady suburban growth along the Interstate 30 corridor as the Little Rock metropolitan area expands. The city’s historic downtown centers on the Saline County Courthouse, with civic anchors like the Royal Theatre and the Shoppach House Museum, but the broader built environment is auto-oriented, with residential subdivisions and commercial strips. The area is served by multiple school districts, and the presence of several districts means attendance boundaries can be a key factor for families choosing where to live.

The middle school is a mid-sized campus for its grade band, enrolling students across fourth, fifth, and sixth grades in roughly even numbers at each level. The student body is predominantly White, with a modest share of Hispanic students and students who identify as two or more races, and a very small number of Black and Asian students. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure that gives a sense of the economic makeup of the community the school serves. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.

On the state’s ATLAS assessments, the school’s results present a mixed picture that varies notably by subject and grade level. In math, proficiency rates showed a wide range across grades: fourth grade had a result that was near the midpoint, while fifth grade was considerably lower, and sixth grade was the strongest of the three. A similar pattern appeared in English language arts, where fourth grade performed at a moderate level, fifth grade was lower, and sixth grade rebounded. In science, fourth graders posted the school’s highest proficiency rate across all subjects, while fifth and sixth grades were lower and closer to each other. Compared to other districts in Saline County, Harmony Grove’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades placed in the top quartile. The variation from grade to grade, particularly the dip in fifth grade, is something a parent may want to explore further with the school to understand whether it reflects a single cohort’s experience or a broader instructional pattern.

Because this is a middle school serving only grades four through six, there is no high school graduation rate to report, and the school does not offer the kind of advanced coursework, career pathways, or dual-credit programs that high schools provide. The district brief showed no recent parent-relevant changes, such as boundary adjustments or program launches, that were publicly reported at the time of this profile. For families seeking an understanding of the academic environment, the picture is one of a school where performance is uneven across grades and subjects, set within a growing suburban community where multiple school districts give families some choice on the housing map.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 520%

School 20% · District 20%

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 28 pts below county median

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 57%

▲ 20 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 52%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 38%

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

Grade 649%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 16 pts above state median

Science

Grade 460%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 43%

▲ 10 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 643%

School 43% · District 43%

▲ 10 pts above state median

This schoolHARMONY GROVE SCH DIST(SALINE), 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 4Lower-income22%Higher-income40%17 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income26%Higher-income48%22 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income40%Higher-income41%1 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income40%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income24%Higher-income40%17 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income46%1 pp gap