The top reported proficiency rate is 47% in Math. The lowest is 40% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Southside Elementary School
Southside Elementary School serves only third and fourth graders in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, within the Siloam Springs School District. It is a conventional public school with no charter or magnet status, and it shares the district’s practice of separating grade bands into different buildings. That means a child typically moves to a new campus every year or two: from Northside for Pre-K and kindergarten, to Allen for first and second, then to Southside, onward to the intermediate school for fifth and sixth, and so on through middle and high school. For families, this creates a clear, predictable progression, but it also means the peer group and building change often.
The student body is sizable for a two-grade school, with enrollment well into the hundreds. The racial and ethnic mix reflects the broader community: roughly two-fifths of students are white, about a third are Hispanic, and the remainder includes a notable share of multiracial students along with smaller groups of Asian, Native American, and Black students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of economic need that aligns with the town’s blue-collar and industrial employment base.
On state assessments administered under Arkansas’s ATLAS system, Southside’s results are mixed. In math, about half of fourth graders scored proficient or above, while third graders were a few steps lower. In English language arts, third graders performed slightly better than fourth graders, with a share near the midpoint; in fourth grade, proficiency was weaker. Science scores were similar, hovering below half in both grades. Taken together, Southside’s overall proficiency index places it below the midpoint among the county’s districts, though it is not at the bottom. A parent reviewing these results would want to look into how the school supports students who are not yet at the proficient level and whether there are targeted interventions, especially as foundational skills in these grades set the stage for later learning.
The school sits in Siloam Springs, a city that started as a resort around natural springs and has since grown into a small industrial and commercial center at the Oklahoma state line. Major employers include poultry processing, manufacturing, and a private Christian university. The town has seen steady population growth, and its location on the western edge of the fast-growing Northwest Arkansas metro area brings both new development and traffic congestion, particularly along the main highway corridor that was originally built as a bypass. Housing values in the area are moderate, with home prices and rents somewhat above the state median but below the national median. The district itself published no recent changes of note; publicly reported information about new initiatives or school-level adjustments was not found, so a parent would need to ask the school or district directly about current priorities and support programs.
Southside Elementary is a place where the economic diversity of the community is evident and where state test scores show room for improvement. It is part of a school system that moves students through grade-specific buildings, which could be a fit for families who value a structured, age-segregated environment, but less so for those seeking a single K-5 community. The absence of data on special education and English learner populations leaves a gap; those are often crucial for understanding how the school serves all its students. A family considering this school would want to visit, talk to teachers, and learn how the school addresses the varied needs of its third and fourth graders.
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