Perryville Elementary School, Perryville AR

Original Research by School Decision on Perryville Elementary School

Perryville Elementary School serves students from kindergarten through sixth grade and is the only elementary school in the Perryville School District, which also operates a middle and high school. It sits in the small rural county seat of Perryville, Arkansas, a town of modest size nestled in the Fourche River valley near the edge of the Ouachita National Forest. The community is quiet and low-density, with the courthouse anchoring downtown. Families here are within an easy drive of Little Rock, Conway, Russellville, and Hot Springs, but the town itself has a self-contained, slow-paced character.

The student body is comparatively small for a K-6 school, and the demographic profile is predominantly white, with a small share of Hispanic students and a similarly small share of students identifying as two or more races. The share of students from lower-income households who qualify for free or reduced-price meals is substantial, well above the national norm. This economic context is an important factor for families to consider when interpreting the school's academic results.

On the state's ATLAS assessments, Perryville Elementary's proficiency rates across math, English language arts, and science present a mixed picture. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above rises steadily by grade, starting low in third grade and climbing to a stronger level by sixth grade. Reading results follow a somewhat similar pattern, with fourth and sixth graders reaching a modest level of proficiency and third and fifth graders scoring lower. Science scores land in a middle range across all tested grades. When placed against the other districts in Perry County, the school's overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quarter of that small set. A parent looking at these results may want to discuss academic support and intervention strategies with the school, particularly for the earlier grades and for reading.

There is no high school grade band here, so there is no graduation rate to report. Data on special education identification and English learner enrollment was not available in the provided records, so a parent with a child in either category should ask the school directly about how those programs are staffed and integrated.

In terms of the school environment and community context, the data did not include information on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, or staffing ratios, so those dimensions remain unexamined. The district itself does not appear to have undergone major recent changes such as boundary shifts or curriculum overhauls, based on publicly available records. Housing values in the area are below the state average, which aligns with the rural, slower-growth character of the town. Home prices have seen a modest uptick.

For a family weighing this school, the picture is of a small, rural elementary that serves a mostly white, lower-income population. Academic performance is uneven, with stronger math results in the upper elementary years and weaker reading outcomes in the early grades. The school is the main feeder for the district's middle and high school, so a child who starts here can continue through graduation in the same system. The community is quiet, with limited commercial activity and few large employers. Families who value a small-town setting and proximity to outdoor recreation may find it a natural fit, while those looking for higher tested academic performance or more socioeconomic diversity may want to look closer at the school's instructional support before enrolling.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 323%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 23%

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 44%

▲ 11 pts above state median

Grade 649%

School 49% · District 49%

▲ 12 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 28%

▼ 5 pts below state median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 39%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 33%

even with state median

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 38%

▲ 6 pts above state median

Science

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 36%

even with state median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 34%

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 39%

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 638%

School 38% · District 38%

▲ 5 pts above state median

This schoolPERRYVILLE 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 3Lower-income32%Higher-income33%1 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income28%Higher-income54%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income39%Higher-income67%28 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income37%Higher-income64%28 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income24%Higher-income33%9 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income23%Higher-income29%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income42%Higher-income52%10 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income41%Higher-income75%34 pp gap