Mansfield Middle School, Mansfield AR

Original Research by School Decision on Mansfield Middle School

Mansfield Middle School serves grades five through eight for the Mansfield School District, a small rural system that straddles the Scott and Sebastian county line in western Arkansas. The town of Mansfield itself is a compact community oriented around U.S. Highway 71, about a 25-mile drive south of Fort Smith. The local economy is anchored by lumber production, with the West Fraser company as the main employer, and the town’s population has been gradually declining. The school building sits on a campus separate from the town’s historic downtown center, which is typical for the area’s layout.

The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students who identify as two or more races, Asian, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Black. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is common for a rural district in this part of the state. The school enrolls a modest number of students across its four grade levels, and each grade level has a similar-sized cohort.

State testing results from the ATLAS assessment are available for math, English language arts, and science. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above varies by grade, with the highest rate in seventh grade and the lowest in eighth grade. In English language arts, proficiency rates also vary by grade, with fifth graders performing strongest and eighth graders showing the lowest rate. In science, seventh graders posted the highest proficiency rate, while sixth graders had the lowest. When considered together across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint among the two districts in Scott County. A parent examining these results should note that the percentages are moderate, and the pattern across grades and subjects is uneven, which may warrant a conversation with the school about how instruction and support are differentiated by grade level.

Because the school serves only middle grades, it does not have a graduation rate to report. Information about chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, and course access was not available in the data reviewed. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as boundary shifts, program launches, or facility projects that would affect day-to-day schooling. The most notable local infrastructure investment in recent years was a new high school complex built near the old Chocoville site.

For a family considering this school, the picture is straightforward. Mansfield Middle is a small rural school serving a single town, with a student body that is largely white and predominantly low-income. Academic proficiency on state tests is higher than the other district in Scott County, but the rates themselves are modest, with clear variation by subject and grade. A parent might want to ask the school directly about how it supports students who are below the proficient mark, especially in eighth-grade English language arts and science, where the numbers are lowest. There are no visible major changes underway in the district, and the town is stable but not growing.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 43%

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 642%

School 42% · District 42%

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 745%

School 45% · District 45%

▲ 9 pts above state median

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 8 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 38%

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 636%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 730%

School 30% · District 30%

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 5 pts below state median

Science

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 624%

School 24% · District 24%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 745%

School 45% · District 45%

▲ 10 pts above state median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 7 pts below state median

This schoolMANSFIELD 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income32%6 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income31%Higher-income27%4 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income14%Higher-income30%16 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income30%Higher-income43%13 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income35%Higher-income32%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income42%Higher-income27%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income37%Higher-income70%33 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income31%Higher-income30%1 pp gap