The top reported proficiency rate is 25% in Math. The lowest is 20% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Daisy Bates Elementary School
Daisy Bates Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in the Pulaski County Special School District, located in the southeast part of Little Rock. It is a neighborhood public school with a student enrollment large enough to support a full elementary program across the early and intermediate grades. The student body is diverse: the largest group is Black, followed by Hispanic students, then White students, with a smaller share identifying as two or more races and very small numbers of Asian and American Indian students. The school’s population is overwhelmingly in households with low income, as measured by the share of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals, a figure that approaches the full enrollment. That high concentration of poverty is important context for understanding the school’s academic results, because schools serving many students from low-income families often face additional challenges in raising achievement.
State testing data from the Arkansas ATLAS assessment covers grades three through five in math, English language arts, and science. Across every tested grade and subject, a minority of students scored at the proficient or above level. In math, performance varied by grade, with the highest rate in fourth grade and lower rates in third and fifth. In English language arts, the pattern was similar, with fourth-grade results slightly higher than third and fifth, and fifth grade showing the lowest share. Science results were roughly consistent across the three tested grades, with about one in five students meeting the proficiency benchmark. These are low absolute rates, and a parent reviewing these scores would see that most students are not yet meeting the state’s proficiency standard. However, when Daisy Bates is placed alongside other elementary schools in Pulaski County, the school’s combined proficiency across all tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint of that countywide comparison. That relative position means that, while the school’s scores are low on their own, many other schools in the county face similar or greater challenges in reaching proficiency. Because the school ends at fifth grade, there is no high school graduation rate to report, nor are there data on chronic absenteeism or other civil-rights indicators such as discipline rates or staffing ratios.
The community around the school is part of Little Rock, Arkansas’s capital and largest city. Little Rock supports a mix of government, healthcare, banking, retail, and industrial employment. Major employers include the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Dillard’s, and several financial firms. The city’s River Market district and the Arkansas River Trail provide downtown walkability and recreation. Housing in the school’s ZIP code is priced well below both the state and national medians, and rents are also lower than broader averages. For a family considering the area, the cost of housing is relatively modest compared to many parts of the country, though the school’s high poverty rate suggests that many families in the attendance zone face economic constraints.
The Pulaski County Special School District itself underwent a major legal shift in 2021 when a federal court declared the district unitary, ending decades of court supervision that had been in place since the original desegregation case. That change means the district now has full autonomy over school assignments, student transfers, and equity programs, a shift with lasting implications for how schools like Daisy Bates manage enrollment and resources. The school’s name honors a prominent figure from the civil rights era, though the data provided does not include further context about programs or special initiatives tied to that legacy.
Without data on special education or English learner populations, a parent may want to ask the school directly about the services available for students with individualized education plans or those learning English, especially given the diversity of the student body. Similarly, the absence of information about course access, staffing ratios, or attendance patterns limits what can be known about the day-to-day environment. What the data shows is a school serving a high-poverty community with academic results that, while modest in absolute terms, are not out of step with many other elementary schools in Pulaski County. Families considering Daisy Bates should weigh the support structures the school provides for students who are not yet meeting grade-level benchmarks, as well as the broader context of a district emerging from federal oversight and a city with a deep economic and cultural base.
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