Sylvan Hills Elementary School, Sherwood AR

Original Research by School Decision on Sylvan Hills Elementary School

Sylvan Hills Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Sherwood, a primarily residential suburb within the Little Rock-North Little Rock metropolitan area. The school is part of the Pulaski County Special School District, a system that was declared unitary by a federal court in 2021, ending decades of court supervision over desegregation. This change gives the district full local control over school assignments and transfer policies for the first time in a long period.

The student body is notably diverse. Roughly equal shares of students are Black and white, with a smaller but present mix of Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students. About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which means the school has a substantial share of families in lower-income circumstances. The enrollment is large enough to support multiple classrooms per grade but small enough that the school likely has a neighborhood feel rather than an impersonal scale.

Academic performance on the state's ATLAS assessments shows variation across grades and subjects. In fourth grade, the school posted some of its stronger results, with a solid share of students meeting proficiency benchmarks in both English language arts and science. Third-grade English language arts also showed a moderate level of achievement. Where the school faces a clearer area of challenge, a parent may want to look into this further with the school, is in third-grade and fifth-grade math, where the share of students reaching proficiency was lower. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile among elementary schools in Pulaski County, a point worth noting because it sits in a county with a wide range of performance outcomes. The results suggest that while some grade-level subjects are a soft spot, the school is not struggling across the board; its best subjects at certain grades perform at a level that many families would consider solid.

Sherwood itself has grown steadily over the long term through annexation and suburban development, though recent city-level growth has been more modest. The housing market in the area is priced at a level that makes it a realistic option for many families relative to the broader state and national benchmarks. The commute to downtown Little Rock is manageable, and the city has a suburban character with lakes, parks, and recreational facilities scattered throughout rather than a single walkable downtown core. Major employers in the area include health care facilities and customer contact centers.

Because the school only serves early elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and no data was available on chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or discipline rates. A parent considering Sylvan Hills Elementary will find a diverse, mid-sized school within a district that recently gained independence from federal oversight, with academic performance that is mixed by subject but strong relative to its county peers.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 33% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 36% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 32% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 33% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 37% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 36% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Science

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 33%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 455%

School 55% · District 36% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 32 pts above county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 35% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income28%Higher-income78%50 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income31%Higher-income60%29 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income32%Higher-income36%5 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income34%Higher-income72%38 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income13%Higher-income40%27 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income46%16 pp gap