Hardin Elementary School, Redfield AR

Original Research by School Decision on Hardin Elementary School

Hardin Elementary School is a public elementary school in Redfield, Arkansas, serving kindergarten through fifth grade and operating as part of the White Hall School District. It is not a charter school, and its status for Title I is not listed in the available data. The school’s enrollment is relatively small for an elementary school serving this grade band.

The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic and Black students, and a very small number of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Enrollment figures by grade level are consistent with a stable, neighborhood-based school population. Data on the share of students with disabilities and English learners was not available.

Redfield is a small city in northwest Jefferson County, about a short drive southeast of Little Rock. The city has a compact historic commercial district and residential neighborhoods that, according to the city’s own description, are continually expanding. The town’s economy was historically tied to a coal-burning power plant and the railroad, and in recent years Interstate access has brought retail and food-service businesses. Housing values in the area, based on a widely used index, are moderately below both state and national benchmarks, which suggests that home prices in the attendance zone are relatively affordable compared to broader markets.

On the 2024-25 Arkansas state assessments, Hardin Elementary’s results show a mixed picture. In math, proficiency rates across grades three through five line up near or above the midpoint among the small set of Jefferson County districts for which these scores are available. In English language arts, the school’s combined proficiency is also above that same bucket, placing it in the top quartile relative to other Jefferson County districts. Within the school itself, reading performance trends downward as students get older: the fourth-grade rate is higher than the third, but the fifth-grade rate in reading is notably lower than the other two grades. In science, the results follow a similar pattern, with the fifth-grade proficiency rate well below that of the earlier grades. A parent may want to ask the school about how it supports literacy and science instruction in the upper elementary grades.

The school’s comparison set, relative to districts in Jefferson County, shows that Hardin Elementary’s overall proficiency index meaningfully exceeds the median among those districts. However, the county is a limited comparison group, and the available data covers only a subset of the county’s districts. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to examine.

The district that operates Hardin Elementary, White Hall School District, has kept its property tax millage rate unchanged for a long span, according to publicly reported information, which suggests predictable school funding costs. The Arkansas LEARNS Act, a statewide education overhaul enacted in 2023, brings several parent-relevant changes to the district, including third-grade reading proficiency requirements for promotion and a universal school voucher program phased in over time. These are statewide shifts that affect all families in Arkansas.

No data was available on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or course access at Hardin Elementary, which are common dimensions for understanding the school environment. The information on programs offered, such as art, music, gifted education, or after-school activities, was also absent from the available data. For a detailed picture of the school’s daily operations and enrichment offerings, prospective families would be best served by reaching out directly to the school or visiting during school hours.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 36% · ▲ 2 pts above district

even with state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 41% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 544%

School 44% · District 29% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 28 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 344%

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

▲ 11 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 43% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 25 pts above county median

Grade 533%

School 33% · District 35% · ▼ 1 pts below district

even with state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Science

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 38% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

Grade 444%

School 44% · District 40% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 528%

School 28% · District 31% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

This schoolWHITE HALL 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-income55%Higher-income68%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income39%3 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income53%19 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income32%Higher-income37%5 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income40%Higher-income50%10 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income40%Higher-income53%13 pp gap