Oliver Springs Elementary School, Van Buren AR

Original Research by School Decision on Oliver Springs Elementary School

Oliver Springs Elementary School is one of six elementary schools in the Van Buren School District, serving students from kindergarten through fifth grade. It sits in a residential area of Van Buren, a city that functions as the county seat of Crawford County and is the second-largest municipality in the Fort Smith metropolitan area. The school operates within a district that publicly reports a mix of manufacturing, food processing, and medicine as the sustaining local industries, with large employers like Simmons Foods, the school district itself, and Baptist Health. The city has been growing steadily, and its historic downtown along Main Street provides a recognizable civic core, though the school campus is separate from that core.

On the most recent state assessments, administered under Arkansas's ATLAS system, Oliver Springs Elementary's results varied across subjects and grade levels. In math, the share of students scoring at the proficient level or above ranged from roughly half of third graders to just under half of fifth graders, with fourth graders showing a somewhat higher result. In English language arts, the range was wider, with third graders scoring lower than fourth graders, and fifth graders again near the middle of that band. Science results were similar across the three tested grades, with just under half of students reaching proficiency. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school's combined proficiency placed it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Crawford County, a meaningful point of comparison given the county holds five school districts. This is a clear strength: the school's overall academic performance stands above the midpoint of the county, and a parent looking at elementary options within the region would see Oliver Springs as a competitive pick.

About half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a substantial share that reflects the economic mix of the community. The student body is predominantly white, with the next largest group being Hispanic students, followed by a smaller share of students who identify as two or more races, and very small numbers of Asian, Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. The school does not report data on students with IEPs or English learners, so a parent who needs that information would want to ask the school directly. Similarly, no discipline data, staffing ratios, or attendance figures were available in the data we looked at, and since the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report.

The neighborhood around the school falls within a housing market where home values are modestly below the national median but roughly in line with the Arkansas state average. Rents are moderate. The broader Van Buren area has seen gradual population growth, and the city's location at the junction of major highways and near the Arkansas River supports a diversified local economy. For a family, the peer environment at Oliver Springs is a largely white student body with a significant low-income population, and the academic results are above average for the county, though not uniformly high across every grade and subject. The gaps in available data on student support services mean a parent should expect to have a conversation with the school about special education and English learner programs to get a full picture.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 43% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 457%

School 57% · District 45% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 42% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 336%

School 36% · District 36%

▲ 3 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 37% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 32% · ▲ 11 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median

Science

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 38% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 37% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 33% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 13 pts above 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-income31%Higher-income53%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income59%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income40%Higher-income50%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income31%Higher-income68%38 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income61%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income45%Higher-income53%8 pp gap