The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in Science. The lowest is 30% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Marshall High School
Marshall High School serves the seventh through twelfth grades for the Searcy County School District, and it is the only high school in the district. The building sits on US Highway 65 within the town of Marshall, a small rural county seat that anchors the local economy around timber processing, cattle, and tourism drawn by the Buffalo National River. The school shares the same corridor as the town’s commercial strip, and the campus is woven into the fabric of Marshall rather than separated from it; the annual Chocolate Roll Festival is hosted at the high school.
The student body is overwhelmingly white, with a modest share of Hispanic students and a very small number of students identifying as two or more races, Black, or Asian. The enrollment is what one would expect for a combined middle and high school serving a small county seat. Nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which places the school in a context of high economic need. Special population data, such as those on students with disabilities or English learners, was not available in the provided information, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.
On state assessments, which use Arkansas’s ATLAS test, proficiency rates for both math and reading are below the midpoint when compared to other districts in Searcy County. In seventh grade math and eighth grade math, roughly one quarter to one third of students scored at the proficient or above level. In English language arts, about one third of seventh graders and one third of eighth graders met that bar. Science results were a bit higher in both grades, but still below half. Overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades places the school above the midpoint among the three districts in the county, which means it is not at the bottom of a small set but is not at the top either. A graduation rate was not reported in the data, and since the school serves seventh grade through twelfth grade, that gap is not explained by a missing high school program; a parent may want to confirm the school’s graduation rate directly.
No program data was included in the information provided, so it is not possible to describe what Advanced Placement, career and technical education, or dual-credit courses are offered. The school’s website was not available in the data, and without that, a family interested in academic pathways beyond the core curriculum would need to contact the school to learn about elective options, college readiness supports, or vocational programs. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes, and the absence leaves a blank on any new initiatives or restructuring.
Housing in the area is relatively affordable compared to the rest of the state and the nation. Home values have risen at a pace faster than the national average in recent quarters, but the starting point is low enough that the area remains accessible in price. The typical mortgage on a home would be well below what a median-income national household would face. Marshall itself is a town that has seen little population growth for decades; the Encyclopedia of Arkansas describes it as a place for quiet retirement, and no major developments or subdivisions appear in the public record. A family moving here would find a stable, low-growth housing market and a community where the school is one of the central civic institutions.
Given the combination of high economic need, modest test results that are in the middle of a very small county comparison set, and a quiet rural setting, Marshall High School fits a family that values small-town life and a school that is an integrated part of that community. A parent looking for a wide array of advanced coursework or data on postsecondary outcomes will want to investigate further, as the public record does not supply those details.
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