James R. Tate Elem. School, Van Buren AR

Original Research by School Decision on James R. Tate Elem. School

James R. Tate Elementary School is one of six elementary schools in the Van Buren School District, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The school sits in a residential area of Van Buren, a growing city that serves as the county seat of Crawford County and is the second-largest city in the Fort Smith metropolitan area. Van Buren has a historic downtown core, but outside of it the city is car-dependent, and the school district’s campuses are spread across town rather than clustered together. Major employers in the area include Simmons Foods, the school district itself, USA Truck, and Baptist Health, with manufacturing, food processing, and medicine as sustaining industries.

The student body at Tate Elementary is majority White, with a substantial Hispanic population and small shares of students who identify as multiracial, Asian, Black, or American Indian or Alaska Native. A large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a higher-poverty context than many of its peers. The school is a regular public school and is not a charter. It does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report.

State testing data is available for the 2024-25 school year under Arkansas’s ATLAS assessment. In math, proficiency rates in third and fourth grades were in the range typical of a school where a majority of students are not yet meeting the state bar, while fifth grade showed a stronger share of students reaching proficiency. In English language arts, the pattern was similar: third grade had the highest proficiency rate, fourth grade dipped, and fifth grade fell to the lowest of the three. Science results were relatively consistent across the three tested grades, with roughly a third of students meeting proficiency in each. Looking at the school’s overall performance across tested subjects and grades, and comparing it to other districts in Crawford County, Tate Elementary sits above the midpoint among the group.

Enrollment is spread across the PK-5 grade span with roughly similar class sizes, suggesting a stable student-to-teacher environment at the classroom level. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available, so a parent who wants to understand how the school serves those groups would need to ask the school directly.

Van Buren has been growing steadily, with population estimates showing continued increase. The city’s location at the junction of major interstates and the Arkansas River positions it for ongoing development. Housing values in the area are modestly below the national typical home value, and rents are lower than the national rent benchmark, making the area more affordable than many parts of the country.

A parent considering James R. Tate Elementary will find a school where the academic results show room for growth, with proficiency rates that suggest many students are still developing foundational skills. The school serves a community with a high share of economically disadvantaged students, which can affect the resources and supports needed in the classroom. The school’s overall performance, when measured against other districts in Crawford County, is in the upper half, but a family should look closely at the specific grade-level results to understand where their child might land. For a family that wants a neighborhood elementary school in a growing, affordable part of western Arkansas, Tate Elementary is a straightforward option. For a family with a child who needs strong academic intervention or enrichment, it would be worth visiting and asking about the school’s specific programs for both struggling and advanced learners.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 43% · ▼ 6 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

Grade 435%

School 35% · District 45% · ▼ 10 pts below district

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

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 42% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 340%

School 40% · District 36% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 434%

School 34% · District 37% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 32% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Science

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 38% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 37% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 33%

even with state median

This schoolVAN BUREN 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-income27%Higher-income67%40 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income14%Higher-income58%44 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income22%Higher-income40%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income23%Higher-income50%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income10%Higher-income32%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income60%22 pp gap