The top reported proficiency rate is 31% in Math. The lowest is 22% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Conner Middle School
Conner Middle School serves grades six through eight in McGehee, a small, predominantly rural city in the Arkansas Delta. It is part of the McGehee School District, which operates two public schools within the town. The community has a long agricultural history, with the economy revolving around farming, trucking, and some rail and port development. McGehee’s population has been declining for decades, and the built environment is car-dependent, with a highway corridor running through the center and residential streets radiating outward. Housing is very affordable relative to state and national benchmarks, reflecting the area’s economic conditions.
The middle school enrolls a student body that is roughly evenly split between Black and White students, with a smaller Hispanic population and a few students of other races. Every student attending Conner Middle School qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a direct marker of the high level of economic need in the community. No data was available on the share of students receiving special education services or English learner support, so a parent would need to ask the school directly about those programs.
Academically, the school participates in Arkansas’s ATLAS state assessments. Proficiency rates across math, English language arts, and science are modest overall. In math, the portion of students scoring proficient or above is higher in sixth grade than in seventh and eighth grades. English language arts results follow a similar downward trend, with the lowest proficiency in eighth grade. Science results also decline across the grades. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, places it above the midpoint relative to districts in Desha County. That county comparison includes only two districts, so the advantage is narrow and local. In absolute terms, the proficiency rates are low, and a parent may want to ask the school about academic interventions and supports, particularly for students in the upper middle grades.
No information was available on program offerings such as advanced coursework, electives, or extracurricular activities. Data on discipline rates, staffing ratios, and chronic absenteeism were also missing. Because the school serves only middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report; that metric applies to high schools only. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as boundary adjustments or new initiatives that would shape a family’s decision.
Conner Middle School sits in a community shaped by economic hardship and population contraction. The school’s student body is uniformly low-income, and academic results are below what many families would consider strong. For a parent considering this school, the questions worth pursuing revolve around how the school addresses these challenges in the classroom and what programs are available to support student growth from sixth through eighth grade. The affordable housing and tight-knit rural setting may appeal to some, but the academic numbers and limited publicly available program information give a parent a clear place to start their own inquiry.
See more original research from School Decision →