The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in Science. The lowest is 36% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary School serves young children from prekindergarten through third grade, making it the entry point for students in the Lincoln School District. The school is located in the small city of Lincoln, which sits on Highway 62 about halfway between Prairie Grove and the Oklahoma line, roughly a half-hour drive southwest of Fayetteville. This is a place that retains a rural Ozark character despite being part of the fast-growing Northwest Arkansas metro area. Lincoln’s downtown is compact, centered on a historic square that hosts the annual Arkansas Apple Festival each October, an event that draws thousands of visitors. Away from festival weekends, street life is quiet, and there is no fixed-route public transit. Housing values in the area around Lincoln are above the state average but below the national average, and the town has seen modest, steady population growth over recent decades.
Lincoln Elementary is the only school in the district that covers these early grades, so most children in the community begin their schooling here. The school enrolls a substantial number of students, and a large share of families qualify for free or reduced-price meals, indicating that a considerable portion of the population experiences lower household income. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Asian, two-or-more-races, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. The school does not report counts for students with disabilities or English learners, so it is not possible to say from the available data how those populations are served.
Academically, Lincoln Elementary participates in Arkansas’s state testing program, the ATLAS assessment, for third graders. Results from the most recent testing year show that in math, slightly more than a third of third graders scored at the proficient level or above. In English language arts, the share was a bit higher, though still below half. Science proficiency was the strongest subject, approaching half of students meeting the standard. When compared with other schools in Washington County, Lincoln Elementary’s overall proficiency across the three tested subjects sits below the midpoint of the county’s districts. That context is important: Washington County includes affluent, high-performing districts in and around Fayetteville as well as more rural ones, and Lincoln’s results fall toward the lower end of that range.
Because the school serves only grades PK through 3, there is no graduation rate to report, and no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or staffing ratios are available. A parent looking to understand how older students fare would need to look at the district’s middle and high school. There are no special program offerings described, such as magnet or gifted tracks, and the school is not a charter school.
The building itself is part of a school campus that is separate from Lincoln’s downtown square. The district’s high school and athletics complex were built in recent years as a major community investment, and the public library was rebuilt as a modern facility. For a family considering Lincoln Elementary, the takeaway is straightforward: this is a small-town early-grades school serving a community with modest incomes and a quiet, rural feel. Academic proficiency is lower than the county median, especially in math and English, though science is notably stronger. A parent may want to ask the school about intervention programs and how early literacy and numeracy are being addressed, as well as inquire about services for students who are learning English or have special needs, since those details are not publicly reported. For families who value a slower pace, a tight-knit town, and the apple-festival identity of this corner of northwest Arkansas, Lincoln Elementary fits that picture, but the test results suggest that some students may need additional academic support.
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