The top reported proficiency rate is 50% in Science. The lowest is 9% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Pocola Ms
Pocola Middle School serves grades six through eight in the Pocola school district, a small district in Le Flore County that is part of the Fort Smith metropolitan area. The town of Pocola itself is a rural, low-density community spread across a large geographic footprint of roughly thirty square miles. Families here are car-dependent, and the school sits within a town that has historical roots in coal mining and has seen slow but steady population growth over recent decades. Housing values in the area are well below the national median, and below the state median as well, which together with the rural setting gives the town a relatively affordable character for those who work in or commute to Fort Smith.
The student body at Pocola Middle School is small, as would be expected for this grade band in a rural district. Its composition is predominantly white, with a notable American Indian or Alaska Native share and a smaller cohort of students who identify with two or more races. There are also small numbers of Hispanic, Asian, and Black students enrolled. The school does not have a charter or magnet designation, and data on the share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch was not available, which leaves a gap for a parent trying to gauge the economic makeup of the peer environment. Similarly, information on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported.
The academic picture is mixed and comes with some important caveats about the data itself. State testing results for the 2024-2025 school year are reported at the grade level, and Oklahoma changed its cut scores for math and English language arts that same year, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable. In mathematics, proficiency rates are very low across the tested grades. The most complete information available is for eighth grade, where the share of students scoring proficient or above is in the single digits. Results for sixth and seventh grade math were suppressed, likely due to small group sizes that could identify individual students, but the number of students tested in each of those grades is reported. In English language arts, seventh graders had a moderate proficiency rate, while eighth graders had a notably lower rate; sixth grade results were also suppressed. In eighth grade science, meanwhile, half of students tested at or above the proficient level, which is a comparatively bright spot for the school and a subject area that may be a relative strength.
When placed against other districts in Le Flore County, Pocola Middle School’s overall proficiency index lands in the top quartile of the county. This is a useful piece of context: the county-level comparison set includes seventeen districts, and the school’s performance, while low in absolute terms, is competitive within Le Flore County. That said, the index is a simple average of the reported proficiency rates across tested subjects and grades, and the suppressed results in several grade-subject combinations mean the picture is incomplete. A parent may want to ask the school directly about sixth and seventh grade math and English performance, as well as how the school supports students who arrive below grade level.
No information about programs was available, so it is not possible to speak to whether the school offers electives, enrichment, or intervention programs. The district brief turned up no recent parent-relevant changes such as referendums, curriculum shifts, or boundary adjustments, which means the operational context appears stable but also provides little for a family to evaluate in terms of forward momentum. Discipline data, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, and course access were all absent from the available record, so a parent considering this school will want to pursue those topics directly with the school leadership.
The end result is a middle school that operates in a small, rural, and affordable community, serves a predominantly white student body with a meaningful American Indian presence, and produces academic results that are low in absolute terms but relatively stronger when viewed against the county backdrop. The standout subject in the reported data is eighth grade science; math and some English results raise questions that the school is best positioned to answer. A family that values a tight-knit, small-school environment in a low-cost rural setting near the Fort Smith area may find this a natural fit, but those concerned about academic attainment will want to dig into the gaps left by the suppressed and missing data.
See more original research from School Decision →