Oak Grove Elementary School, North Little Rock AR

Original Research by School Decision on Oak Grove Elementary School

Oak Grove Elementary School, part of the Pulaski County Special School District, serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in North Little Rock. The school sits within a mid-sized Arkansas city that has its own identity across the Arkansas River from Little Rock, combining residential neighborhoods with entertainment districts, parks, and a historic downtown area in Argenta. The city has attracted young families and professionals through beautification efforts and downtown investment, and its housing stock carries a modest price relative to state and national benchmarks. Oak Grove operates within a district that, in a major recent development, was declared unitary by a federal court, ending decades of desegregation oversight. That shift gives the district more autonomy over policies such as school assignments and transfers.

The student body at Oak Grove Elementary is small for its pre-K through fifth grade band. The population reflects a mix of backgrounds, with the largest groups being Black students and White students, followed by Hispanic students. A very high share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a community with substantial economic need. Because the school only goes through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate data; that metric applies to high schools, not this type of elementary school. Similarly, the school does not have data on chronic absenteeism or special populations such as English learners or students with disabilities in the available data, so a parent may want to ask the school for that information directly.

On the Arkansas ATLAS state assessments, Oak Grove’s proficiency rates across tested subjects and grades are below the midpoint when compared to other schools in Pulaski County. In math, the share of students scoring at the proficient level or above is modest in each tested grade, and in English language arts, the rates are somewhat higher but still low overall. In science, the pattern is similar. Across all three subjects and all three tested grade levels, the proportion of students reaching proficiency is limited, and a parent considering this school would want to understand what academic interventions and supports are in place and whether the school is showing signs of improvement over time. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across subjects and grades, falls below the middle among the county’s districts.

The neighborhood around the school, near Oak Grove Road, is part of North Little Rock’s broader residential fabric. The city offers a range of civic anchors, from Burns Park and the Arkansas River Trail to Simmons Bank Arena and the historic Old Mill. Employment is anchored by healthcare, manufacturing, and local government. Walkability is concentrated downtown, while most of the city requires a car. Housing values in the school’s ZIP code are well below the state median and substantially below the national median, and rents are also lower on a relative basis. The area has seen modest population growth in recent years, and the housing stock overall is not expensive by regional standards.

For a family trying to understand whether Oak Grove Elementary fits, the key picture is a small school with a high-needs student body and test results that are below the county average. The district’s recent legal milestone means it is operating without federal court supervision for the first time in decades, a change that could affect how resources and programs are allocated. A parent with a child at Oak Grove would likely want to ask about the school’s academic improvement plans, enrichment opportunities, and how it supports students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 38%

School 8% · District 33% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 36% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 32% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 325%

School 25% · District 33% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 37% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 516%

School 16% · District 36% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Science

Grade 321%

School 21% · District 33% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 419%

School 19% · District 36% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 513%

School 13% · District 35% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

This schoolPULASKI COUNTY SPECIAL 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.