2018 Pulaski County Education Report Card

Our goal is to help parents, school personnel, community members, and policy makers understand how effectively the students in their community are being served. Pulaski students are demonstrating similar growth in achievement on the ACT Aspire as students in the state overall, but in achievement, graduation rates, and School Quality and Student Success, Pulaski County schools are performing below the state average

Arkansas Teacher Supply

This brief examines teacher supply in Arkansas. Using survey data collected in Spring 2017 and data publicly available from the Arkansas Department of Education, we examine how teacher supply varies by district, grade level, and subject across the state. In particular, we examine characteristics associated with the most favorable teaching supply

High-Growth Elementary Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations

This section highlights elementary schools across the state whose students demonstrated high growth on the Arkansas ACT Aspire exams. The ACT Aspire was administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in April 2018 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading

2017 Pulaski County Education Report Card

There are many things that contribute to a ‘good’ school, but we believe student academic growth is perhaps the most meaningful measure of school performance or school effectiveness. Many Pulaski County schools had high growth at one or two school levels, and there is evidence of variation in growth rates between schools within the same districts. We recommend district and school leaders examine where their students are not demonstrating high growth, examine high growth schools to see what those schools are doing differently, and consider how they can further support learning for their students

Presidential Candidates on K-12 Education

Every four years, our presidential candidates work hard to convince us that they have the best plan to keep us safe, prosperous, and well-educated. While economic challenges have recently taken center stage in the presidential election, education is still a critically important issue to OEP and its constituents. Here, we provide a summary of the views of each candidate on key issues and hope that this information is useful to our readers. In this brief, the OEP does not endorse one candidate over the other. Indeed, there is much to like in each candidate’s platform

School Discipline in Arkansas

This brief examines school discipline practices and outcomes in Arkansas. Using data publicly available from the Arkansas Department of Education, we examine state-wide discipline trends, summarize the analysis on school-level data demonstrating disparities in student discipline, and make recommendations for utilizing this information

Education Week’s Report on Arkansas

As schools open their doors for the spring 2005 semester, many legislatures around the nation are meeting to discuss accountability standards, equity and adequacy issues, and the link between money and student performance. While the education issues of 2005 are not unique, in that they have been discussed for years, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) deadline for schools to begin performing at higher standards increases the urgency. In addition to the increased standards, state policymakers are facing difficult legal challenges to their school funding systems. In an attempt to gauge the status of the nation and each state, Education Week has published state report cards since 1997 with its annual Quality Counts series, one of several national reports issued each year by various education organizations. Education Week’s report cards grade each state on student achievement, standards and accountability, efforts to improve teacher quality, school climate, resource equity, and resource adequacy. Throughout the nine year history, each year’s report includes a special focus. For example, in 1998, the focus was on urban schools, and, in 2004, the focus was on Special Education. The latest report was released early January 2005, entitled Quality Counts 2005: No Small Change, Targeting Money Toward Student Performance. This brief summarizes Arkansas’ position on the 2005 report, compares Arkansas to its border states on each measure, and illustrates Arkansas’ changes over time

Integration in the Little Rock Area, Part 3: Where do Students Move?

School integration has been a contentious policy issue in Little Rock since the 1950s. Recent charter expansions have raised questions about the current level of integration in public schools (charter and traditional) in the Little Rock Area. As part of our series on integration in Little Rock, this brief examines the differences in school-level demographics and academics between the schools students leave and the schools these students ente

Stakes Increase for End of Course Exams in 2009-10

As of the 2009-10 academic year, high school students in Arkansas will be required to pass socalled “End of Course” (or “EOC”) examinations in Algebra I, Biology, Geometry, and English. Students who fail to meet the requisite passing standard will be required to retake the class or to pass “an appropriate alternative exit course in order to receive credit for the course on his or her transcript and in order to graduate.” In other words, these four EOC tests will become high school exit exams. Thus, as of 2009-10, Arkansas will join some 23 other states that have high school exit exams

Merit Pay: A Discussion on the Issues

Merit pay is a timely education policy issue being discussed by educators and legislators and in schools and statehouses across the country. Merit pay is a broad term used to describe a variety of incentive-based K-12 educator compensation plans. Given that the opposing sides of this controversial issue passionately argue its validity as a policy solution, how can policymakers decide whether to endorse such plans, and what does the research suggest are the features of effective plans? In an effort to educate policymakers about the issue in general and to assist interested parties in evaluating proposed merit pay programs, the OEP presents background of merit pay programs, the arguments of advocates and opponents, an overview of merit pay plans in the US and in Arkansas, a summary of relevant research, and finally recommendations for identifying or designing the quality plans