This section highlights high 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

McKenzie, Sarah C.

Reid, Charlene A.

English

UARK (University of Arkansas )

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Arkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy 11-28-2018 High-Growth High Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations Charlene A. Reid University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Sarah C. McKenzie University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport  Part of the Education Policy Commons, and the Secondary Education Commons Citation Reid, C. A., & McKenzie, S. C. (2018). High-Growth High Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations. Arkansas Education Reports. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/64 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu. ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 16, Issue 4 OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2018 HIGH-GROWTH HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARKANSASBASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THE ACTASPIRE EXAMINATIONSNovember 28, 2018 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 211 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 III. 2018 OEP Awards: High Achieving High Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ................................................................................................................. 29 G. High School Overall ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 .................................................................. 30 H. High School Math ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 ...................................................................... 34 I. High School ELA ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 ........................................................................ 38 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history. Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2017-18 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency). In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students. Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 29  III. 2018 OEP AWARDS: HIGH ACHIEVING HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS This section highlights high 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.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the weighted achievement score, and the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 30  G. High School Overall ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 Table 37: Top 20 High Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 86.63 2 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) NE 10-12 85.12 3 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) NW 9 85.06 4 Haas Hall Academy At the Lane (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.83 5 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.75 6 Washington Academy (Texarkana) SW 7-12 84.66 7 Eureka Springs High (Eureka Springs) NW 9-12 84.65 8 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) CN 8-9 84.50 9 South Side High (South Side (Van Buren)) NW 7-12 84.48 10 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 84.31 11 Danville High (Danville) NW 9-12 84.20 12 Dardanelle High (Dardanelle) NW 9-12 83.98 13 Greenwood Freshman Center (Greenwood) NW 9 83.85 14 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 83.66 15 Russellville Junior High (Russellville) NW 8-9 83.61 16 Ouachita High (Ouachita) CN 7-12 82.98 17 Hazen High (Hazen) SE 9-12 82.95 18 Arkansas Arts Academy High (Arkansas Arts Academy) NW 9-12 82.86 19 Arkansas High (Texarkana) SW 9-12 82.64 20 Concord High (Concord) NE 7-12 82.62     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 31  Tables 38-42: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Overall Growth  Table 38: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) 9 362 85.06 2 Haas Hall Academy At the Lane (Haas Hall Academy ) 7-12 107 84.83 3 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 123 84.75 4 Eureka Springs High (Eureka Springs) 9-12 79 84.65 5 South Side High (South Side (Van Buren)) 7-12 154 84.48   Table 39: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 141 85.12 2 Concord High (Concord) 7-12 129 82.62 3 Batesville High (Batesville) 10-12 212 82.52 4 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) 7-12 200 82.44 5 Quitman High (Quitman) 7-12 178 82.40     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 32   Table 40: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 92 86.63 2 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 498 84.50 3 Ouachita High (Ouachita) 7-12 150 82.98 4 Sheridan High (Sheridan) 10-12 296 82.60 5 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 133 82.48   Table 41: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Washington Academy (Texarkana) 7-12 25 84.66 2 Arkansas High (Texarkana) 9-12 436 82.64 3 Junction City High (Junction City) 7-12 194 82.30 4 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 214 82.29 5 DeQueen Junior High (DeQueen) 8-9 324 81.62      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 33  Table 42: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 79 82.95 2 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 309 82.00 3 Des Arc High (Des Arc) 7-12 154 81.87 4 Star City High (Star City) 9-12 224 81.76 5 Hamburg High (Hamburg) 9-12 297 81.42     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 34  H. High School Math ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 Table 43: Top 10 High Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy At the Lane (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 88.05 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 88.05 3 Hazen High (Hazen) SE 9-12 87.70 4 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 86.65 4 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 86.65 4 South Side High (South Side (Van Buren)) NW 7-12 86.65 7 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) CN 8-9 85.95 7 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 85.95 7 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) NE 10-12 85.95 7 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) NW 9 85.95     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 35  Tables 44-48: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Math Growth  Table 44: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy At the Lane (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 107 88.05 2 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) 7-12 201 86.65 2 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 123 86.65 2 South Side High (South Side (Van Buren)) 7-12 154 86.65 5 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 214 85.95 5 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) 9 362 85.95  Table 45: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 140 85.95 2 Quitman High (Quitman) 7-12 178 85.25 3 Gosnell High (Gosnell) 7-12 358 84.20 4 Concord High (Concord) 7-12 129 83.15 4 Manila High (Manila) 9-12 149 83.15    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 36  Table 46: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 92 88.05 2 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 498 85.95 3 SIATech High Charter (SIATech Little Rock Charter) 9-12 7 84.90 4 Ouachita High (Ouachita) 7-12 150 83.85 5 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 133 83.50   Table 47: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Arkansas High (Texarkana) 9-12 436 83.50 1 Washington Academy (Texarkana) 7-12 25 83.50 3 Junction City High (Junction City) 7-12 194 82.45 4 DeQueen Junior High (DeQueen) 8-9 324 81.75 5 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 214 81.40 5 Smackover High (Smackover-Norphlet) 9-12 151 81.40     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 37  Table 48: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 79 87.70 2 Des Arc High (Des Arc) 7-12 154 82.10 3 Hamburg High (Hamburg) 9-12 297 81.75 3 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 309 81.75 5 Star City High (Star City) 9-12 224 81.40     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 38  I. High School ELA ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 Table 49: Top 10 High Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 Washington Academy (Texarkana) SW 7-12 85.95 2 Danville High (Danville) NW 9-12 85.25 2 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 85.25 4 Shirley High (Shirley) NW 7-12 84.55 5 Capital City Lighthouse Upper Academy (Capital City Lighthouse Academy) CN 7-12 84.20 5 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) NE 10-12 84.20 5 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) NW 9-9 84.20 8 Cross County High A New Tech (Cross County) NE 7-12 83.85 8 Greenwood Freshman Center (Greenwood) NW 9-9 83.85 8 Lavaca High (Lavaca) NW 9-12 83.85 8 Lead Hill High (Lead Hill) NW 7-12 83.85 8 Russellville Junior High (Russellville) NW 8-9 83.85     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 39  Tables 50-54: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, ELA Growth  Table 50: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Danville High (Danville) 9-12 120 85.25 2 Shirley High (Shirley) 7-12 102 84.55 3 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) 9-9 361 84.20 4 Greenwood Freshman Center (Greenwood) 9-9 253 83.85 4 Lavaca High (Lavaca) 9-12 115 83.85 4 Lead Hill High (Lead Hill) 7-12 98 83.85 4 Russellville Junior High (Russellville) 8-9 675 83.85   Table 51: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 141 84.20 2 Cross County High A New Tech (Cross County) 7-12 161 83.85 3 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) 7-12 200 82.80 3 Tuckerman High (Jackson Co.) 8-12 187 82.80 5 Batesville High (Batesville) 10-12 208 82.45 5 Heber Springs High (Heber Springs) 9-12 226 82.45 5 Izard Co. Cons. High (Izard County Consolidated) 9-12 55 82.45     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 40  Table 52: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 92 85.25 2 Capital City Lighthouse Upper Academy (Capital City Lighthouse Academy) 7-12 11 84.20 3 Dollarway High (Dollarway) 9-12 127 83.50 3 Sheridan High (Sheridan) 10-12 295 83.50 5 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 498 83.15   Table 53: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Washington Academy (Texarkana) 7-12 25 85.95 2 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 214 83.15 3 Caddo Hills High (Caddo Hills) 7-12 157 82.80 4 Strong High (Strong-Huttig) 7-12 63 82.45 5 Junction City High (Junction City) 7-12 194 82.10      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 41  Table 54: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Hermitage High (Hermitage) 7-12 144 82.45 2 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 308 82.10 2 Star City High (Star City) 9-12 224 82.10 4 Des Arc High (Des Arc) 7-12 154 81.75 4 DeWitt High (DeWitt) 9-12 162 81.75  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2017-18 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included • Final Weighted Achievement Adjusted for 95% Tested • Grade Range • Grade Span (School Level) • Poverty Rate • Combined Content Growth Score Current Year • Combined Math Growth Score Current Year • Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf   

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

The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.
This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency

ScholarWorks@UARK

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Arkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy 10-16-2019 High-Growth Elementary Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations Charlene A. Reid University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Sarah C. McKenzie University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport  Part of the Education Policy Commons, and the Elementary Education Commons Recommended Citation Reid, Charlene A. and McKenzie, Sarah C., "High-Growth Elementary Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations" (2019). Arkansas Education Reports. 67. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/67 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact ccmiddle@uark.edu.      ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 17, Issue 1    OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2019   HIGH-GROWTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMINATIONS   October 16, 2019 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie   Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 214 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019  Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 I. 2019 OEP Awards: High Growth Elementary Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ................................................................................................................... 2 A. Elementary School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 ............................................. 3 B. Elementary School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 ................................................ 7 C. Elementary School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 ............................................... 11 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history.  Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2018-19 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency).  In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students.      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 2  I. 2019 OEP AWARDS: HIGH GROWTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS 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 2019 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the weighted achievement score, and the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 3  A. Elementary School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 Table 1: Top 20 Elementary Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) NW K-5 90.21 2 Ward Central Elementary (Cabot) CN K-4 89.04 3 Pottsville Elementary (Pottsville) NW K-3 88.52 4 Carolyn Lewis Elementary (Conway) CN K-4 88.07 5 Salem Elementary (Salem) NE K-6 87.90 6 Stagecoach Elementary (Cabot) CN K-4 87.68 6 Weiner Elementary (Harrisburg) NE K-6 87.68 8 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) NW K-4 87.55 9 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) SW K-6 87.37 10 Greenbrier Wooster Elementary (Greenbrier) CN K-5 87.30 11 Westside Elementary (Cabot) CN K-4 87.17 12 Cross County Elementary Tech Academy (Cross County) NE K-6 87.00 12 Greenbrier Springhill Elementary (Greenbrier) CN K-5 87.00 12 Bernice Young Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 87.00 15 Walker Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 86.99 16 Lamar Elementary (Lamar) NW K-3 86.81 17 Chenal Elementary (Pulaski County Special) CN K-5 86.78 18 Hunt Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 86.73 19 Des Arc Elementary (Des Arc) SE P-6 86.55 20 Frank Tillery Elementary (Rogers) NW K-5 86.54 20 Jefferson Elementary (Little Rock) CN P-5 86.54     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 4  Tables 2-6: Top 5 Elementary Schools in Arkansas by Region, Overall Growth  Table 2: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) K-5 163 90.21 2 Pottsville Elementary (Pottsville) K-3 133 88.52 3 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) K-4 119 87.55 4 Bernice Young Elementary (Springdale) K-5 186 87.00 5 Walker Elementary (Springdale) K-5 196 86.99   Table 3: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Salem Elementary (Salem) K-6 255 87.90 2 Weiner Elementary (Harrisburg) K-6 51 87.68 3 Cross County Elementary Tech Academy (Cross County) K-6 126 87.00 4 Calico Rock Elementary (Calico Rock) K-6 104 84.58 5 Westside Elementary (Searcy) K-3 111 84.57    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 5   Table 4: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Ward Central Elementary (Cabot) K-4 178 89.04 2 Carolyn Lewis Elementary (Conway) K-4 185 88.07 3 Stagecoach Elementary (Cabot) K-4 171 87.68 4 Greenbrier Wooster Elementary (Greenbrier) K-5 167 87.30 5 Westside Elementary (Cabot) K-4 141 87.17   Table 5: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) K-6 101 87.37 2 Genoa Central Elementary (Genoa Central) K-4 176 85.39 3 Delight Elementary (South Pike County) K-6 48 85.33 4 Nashville Elementary (Nashville) 4-6 454 85.04 5 College Hill Elementary (Texarkana) K-5 139 84.73      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 6  Table 6: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Des Arc Elementary (Des Arc) P-6 151 86.55 2 Dewitt Elementary (Dewitt) K-5 224 83.24 3 Thomas C Brunson Elementary (Warren) 4-5 250 82.24 4 Dermott Elementary (Dermott) K-6 93 81.16 5 Rison Elementary (Cleveland County) K-5 128 81.16     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 7  B. Elementary School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 Table 7: Top 10 Elementary Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 Stagecoach Elementary (Cabot) CN K-4 91.59 2 Pottsville Elementary (Pottsville) NW K-3 90.96 3 Walker Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 90.79 4 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) NW K-5 90.45 5 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) SW K-6 90.41 6 Salem Elementary (Salem) NE K-6 89.48 7 Cross County Elementary Tech Academy (Cross County) NE K-6 89.42 8 Chenal Elementary (Pulaski County Special) CN K-5 89.26 9 Ward Central Elementary (Cabot) CN K-4 89.14 10 Hunt Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 89.12     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 8  Tables 8-12: Top 5 Elementary Schools in Arkansas by Region, Math Growth  Table 8: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Pottsville Elementary (Pottsville) K-3 133 90.96 2 Walker Elementary (Springdale) K-5 193 90.79 3 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) K-5 163 90.45 4 Hunt Elementary (Springdale) K-5 255 89.12 5 Bernice Young Elementary (Springdale) K-5 186 88.81   Table 9: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Salem Elementary (Salem) K-6 255 89.48 2 Cross County Elementary Tech Academy (Cross County) K-6 126 89.42 3 Weiner Elementary (Harrisburg) K-6 51 86.04 4 Calico Rock Elementary (Calico Rock) K-6 102 85.98 5 Marked Tree Elementary (Marked Tree) P-5 96 85.80     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 9  Table 10: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Stagecoach Elementary (Cabot) K-4 171 91.59 2 Chenal Elementary (Pulaski County Special) K-5 231 89.26 3 Ward Central Elementary (Cabot) K-4 178 89.14 4 Eastside Elementary (Cabot) K-4 184 89.06 5 Jefferson Elementary (Little Rock) P-5 139 88.89   Table 11: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) K-6 101 90.41 2 Genoa Central Elementary (Genoa Central) K-4 154 88.39 3 College Hill Elementary (Texarkana) K-5 136 87.31 4 Nashville Elementary (Nashville) 4-6 454 86.84 5 Smackover Elementary (Smackover-Norphlet) K-5 148 86.21     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 10  Table 12: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Des Arc Elementary (Des Arc) P-6 151 86.65 2 Thomas C Brunson Elementary (Warren) 4-5 250 85.24 3 Dewitt Elementary (Dewitt) K-5 222 84.37 4 Eudora Elementary (Lakeside (Chicot)) P-3 21 82.21 5 Monticello Elementary (Monticello) K-2 435 82.05 5 Monticello Intermediate (Monticello) 3-5 435 82.05     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 11  C. Elementary School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 Table 13: Top 10 Elementary Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) NW K-5 89.97 2 Vilonia Elementary (Vilonia) CN K-3 89.43 3 Weiner Elementary (Harrisburg) NE K-6 89.31 4 Ward Central Elementary (Cabot) CN K-4 88.95 5 Delight Elementary (South Pike County) SW K-6 88.79 6 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) NW K-4 88.73 7 Lamar Elementary (Lamar) NW K-3 88.53 8 Carolyn Lewis Elementary (Conway) CN K-4 88.08 9 Green Forest Elementary (Green Forest) NW P-3 87.75 10 Greenbrier Springhill Elementary (Greenbrier) CN K-5 87.40     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 12  Tables 14-18: Top 5 Elementary Schools in Arkansas by Region, ELA Growth  Table 14: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) K-5 163 89.97 2 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) K-4 119 88.73 3 Lamar Elementary (Lamar) K-3 93 88.53 4 Green Forest Elementary (Green Forest) P-3 85 87.75 5 Crawford Elementary (Russellville) K-4 114 86.33   Table 15: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Weiner Elementary (Harrisburg) K-6 51 89.31 2 Salem Elementary (Salem) K-6 254 86.32 3 Westside Elementary (Searcy) K-3 111 86.25 3 Woodrow Wilson Elementary (Paragould) 2-4 145 85.25 5 Sidney Deener Elementary (Searcy) K-3 77 84.99     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 13  Table 16: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Vilonia Elementary (Vilonia) K-3 130 89.43 2 Ward Central Elementary (Cabot) K-4 178 88.95 3 Carolyn Lewis Elementary (Conway) K-4 185 88.08 4 Greenbrier Springhill Elementary (Greenbrier) K-5 187 87.40 5 Greenbrier Wooster Elementary(Greenbrier) K-5 167 86.77   Table 17: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Delight Elementary (South Pike County) K-6 48 88.79 2 Nashville Primary (Nashville) K-3 125 86.60 3 Genoa Central Elementary (Genoa Central) K-4 176 85.05 4 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) K-6 101 84.34 4 Bobby Barrett Elementary (Mount Ida) K-6 125 83.34      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 14  Table 18: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Des Arc Elementary (Des Arc) P-6 150 86.46 2 Dermott Elementary (Dermott) K-6 93 82.44 3 Gillett Elementary (Dewitt) P-5 36 82.29 4 Dewitt Elementary (Dewitt) K-5 223 82.17 5 Hermitage Elementary (Hermitage) P-6 130 81.73   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2018-19 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included • Grade Range • Grade Span (School Level) • Poverty Rate • Combined Content Growth Score Current Year • Combined Math Growth Score Current Year • Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf  

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

This section highlights middle 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

University of Arkansas, FayettevilleScholarWorks@UARKArkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy11-14-2018High-Growth Middle Schools in Arkansas Basedon Performance on the ACT Aspire ExaminationsCharlene A. ReidUniversity of Arkansas, FayettevilleSarah C. McKenzieUniversity of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreportPart of the Education Policy Commons, and the Other Education CommonsThis Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusionin Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu,ccmiddle@uark.edu.Recommended CitationReid, Charlene A. and McKenzie, Sarah C., "High-Growth Middle Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT AspireExaminations" (2018). Arkansas Education Reports. 63.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/63ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 16, Issue 4 OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2018 HIGH-GROWTH MIDDLE SCHOOLS INARKANSAS BASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THEACT ASPIRE EXAMINATIONSNovember 14, 2018 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 211 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 II. 2018 OEP Awards: High Achieving Middle Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ................................................................................................................. 16 D. Middle School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 ................................................. 17 E. Middle School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 ..................................................... 21 F. Middle School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 ...................................................... 25 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history. Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2017-18 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency). In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students. Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 16  II. 2018 OEP AWARDS: HIGH ACHIEVING MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS This section highlights middle 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.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the number of students tested, and the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 17  D. Middle School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 Table 19: Top 20 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) NE 6-8 86.35 2 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) NW 5-8 86.02 3 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) CN 6-8 85.34 3 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) NE 5-6 85.34 5 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) CN 5-6 85.31 6 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 85.23 7 L. A. Chaffin Junior High (Fort Smith) NW 7-9 85.08 8 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) CN 7-8 85.07 9 Manila Middle (Manila) NE 5-8 84.98 10 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) NE 7-8 84.93 11 J. William Fulbright Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 84.62 12 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) NE 5-7 84.49 13 Bismarck Middle (Bismarck) CN 5-8 84.19 14 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 83.97 15 Cedarville Middle (Cedarville) NW 5-8 83.94 16 Gravette Middle (Gravette) NW 6-8 83.79 17 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) NW 5-8 83.78 18 LISA Academy (LISA Academy) CN 7-8 83.46 19 Helen Tyson Middle (Springdale) NW 6-7 83.37 20 Butterfield Trail Middle (Van Buren) NW 6-8 83.29     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 18  Tables 20-24: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Overall Growth  Table 20: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) 5-8 258 86.02 2 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 738 85.23 3 L. A. Chaffin Junior High (Fort Smith) 7-9 704 85.08 4 J. William Fulbright Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 822 84.62 5 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 658 83.97   Table 21: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 337 86.35 2 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) 5-6 416 85.34 3 Manila Middle (Manila) 5-8 319 84.98 4 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) 7-8 435 84.93 5 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) 5-7 181 84.49     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 19   Table 22: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) 6-8 210 85.34 2 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) 5-6 758 85.31 3 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) 7-8 774 85.07 4 Bismarck Middle (Bismarck) 5-8 282 84.19 5 LISA Academy (LISA Academy) 7-8 327 83.46   Table 23: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 234 83.11 2 Barton Junior High (El Dorado) 7-8 640 80.60 3 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 190 80.54 4 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 297 80.44 5 Mena Middle (Mena) 6-8 351 80.08      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 20  Table 24: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 DeWitt Middle (DeWitt) 6-8 262 81.51 2 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 359 80.59 3 KIPP:Delta College Prep (KIPP Delta Public Schools) 6-8 194 80.07 4 Dumas Junior High (Dumas) 7-9 223 80.05 5 Monticello Middle (Monticello) 6-8 377 80.04     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 21  E. Middle School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 Table 25: Top 10 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) NE 7-8 88.75 2 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) CN 7-8 88.05 3 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 87.35 3 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) CN 6-8 87.35 5 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) NE 7-8 87.00 5 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) CN 5-6 87.00 5 Manila Middle (Manila) NE 5-8 87.00 5 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) NE 5-7 87.00 5 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) NW 5-8 87.00 10 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) NE 6-8 86.65 10 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 86.65     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 22  Tables 26-30: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Math Growth  Table 26: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 738 87.35 2 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) 5-8 258 87.00 3 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 658 86.65 4 Mansfield Middle (Mansfield) 5-8 226 85.95 5 J. William Fulbright Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 822 85.60   Table 27: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) 7-8 435 88.75 2 Manila Middle (Manila) 5-8 319 87.00 2 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) 5-7 181 87.00 2 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) 7-8 482 87.00 5 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 337 86.65     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 23  Table 28: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) 7-8 774 88.05 2 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) 6-8 210 87.35 3 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) 5-6 758 87.00 4 Bismarck Middle (Bismarck) 5-8 282 86.30 5 LISA Academy (LISA Academy) 7-8 327 85.60 5 Vilonia Middle (Vilonia) 7-8 475 85.60   Table 29: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 234 82.80 2 Barton Junior High (El Dorado) 7-8 640 81.05 3 Gary E. Cobb Middle (Genoa Central) 5-8 340 80.35 4 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 190 80.00 5 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 297 79.65 5 Mena Middle (Mena) 6-8 351 79.65     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 24  Table 30: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 DeWitt Middle (DeWitt) 6-8 262 83.50 2 KIPP: Delta College Prep (KIPP Delta Public Schools) 6-8 194 80.70 3 Stuttgart Junior High (Stuttgart) 7-8 208 80.35 3 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 359 80.35 5 Hamburg Middle (Hamburg) 6-8 350 79.65     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 25  F. Middle School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 Table 31: Top 10 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) NW 5-8 86.65 2 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) NE 6-8 85.95 3 L. A. Chaffin Junior High (Fort Smith) NW 7-9 85.25 3 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) NE 5-6 85.25 3 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) NW 5-8 85.25 6 Bergman Middle (Bergman) NW 5-8 84.20 6 Greenwood Junior High (Greenwood) NW 7-8 84.20 8 Ardis Ann Middle (Bentonville) NW 5-6 83.85 8 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) CN 5-6 83.85 8 Hellstern Middle (Springdale) NW 6-7 83.85 8 J. William Fulbright Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 83.85 8 Westside Middle (Westside Cons. (Craighead)) NE 5-7 83.85     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 26  Tables 32-36: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, ELA Growth  Table 32: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) 5-8 96 86.65 2 L. A. Chaffin Junior High (Fort Smith) 7-9 704 85.25 2 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) 5-8 258 85.25 4 Bergman Middle (Bergman) 5-8 293 84.20 4 Greenwood Junior High (Greenwood) 7-8 560 84.20   Table 33: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 337 85.95 2 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) 5-6 414 85.25 3 Westside Middle (Westside Cons. (Craighead)) 5-7 360 83.85 4 Manila Middle (Manila) 5-8 318 83.15 5 Imboden Area Charter (Imboden Charter) K-8 37 82.45     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 27  Table 34: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) 5-6 758 83.85 2 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) 6-8 210 83.50 3 Bob Courtway Middle (Conway) 5-7 440 83.15 4 Cabot Junior High South (Cabot) 7-8 654 82.80 4 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) 5-7 382 82.80   Table 35: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 234 83.15 2 North Heights Junior High (Texarkana) 7-8 479 81.75 3 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 297 81.40 3 Paulette Smith Middle (Fouke) 6-8 203 81.40 5 Hope Academy (Hope) P-9 200 81.05 5 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 188 81.05      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 28  Table 36: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Monticello Middle (Monticello) 6-8 376 83.50 2 Dumas Junior High (Dumas) 7-9 223 81.75 3 Lakeside Middle (Lakeside (Chicot)) 6-8 199 80.70 3 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 358 80.70 5 Star City Middle (Star City) 6-8 322 80.35  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2017-18 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included • Final Weighted Achievement Adjusted for 95% Tested • Grade Range • Grade Span (School Level) • Poverty Rate • Combined Content Growth Score Current Year • Combined Math Growth Score Current Year • Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf 

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

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Arkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy 10-30-2019 High-Growth High Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations Charlene A. Reid University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Sarah C. McKenzie University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport  Part of the Education Policy Commons, and the Secondary Education Commons Citation Reid, Charlene A. and McKenzie, Sarah C., "High-Growth High Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations" (2019). Arkansas Education Reports. 65. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/65 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact ccmiddle@uark.edu.      ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 17, Issue 1    OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2019   HIGH-GROWTH HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMINATIONS   October 30, 2019 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie   Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 214 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 III. 2019 OEP Awards: High Achieving High Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ................................................................................................................. 29 G. High School Overall ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 .................................................................. 30 H. High School Math ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 ...................................................................... 34 I. High School ELA ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 ........................................................................ 38 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history.  Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2018-19 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency).  In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students. Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 29  III. 2019 OEP AWARDS: HIGH ACHIEVING HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS 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 2019 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the weighted achievement score, and the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 30  G. High School Overall ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 Table 37: Top 20 High Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 86.04 2 Calico Rock High (Calico Rock) NE 7-12 85.81 3 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 84.84 4 Haas Hall Academy At The Lane (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.52 5 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.51 6 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.27 7 Danville High (Danville) NW 9-12 84.14 8 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) CN 8-9 84.11 9 Pottsville High (Pottsville) NW 10-12 84.07 10 Bismarck High (Bismarck) CN 9-12 83.98 11 Eureka Springs High (Eureka Springs) NW 9-12 83.79 12 Quitman High (Quitman) NE 9-12 83.61 13 Concord High (Concord) NE 7-12 83.24 14 Kingston High (Jasper) NW 7-12 83.02 15 Conway Junior High (Conway) CN 8-9 83.01 16 Rural Special High (Mountain View) NE 7-12 82.90 17 Murfreesboro High (South Pike County) SW 7-12 82.80 18 Flippin High (Flippin) NW 9-12 82.76 19 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) NE 10-12 82.56 19 Hazen High (Hazen) SE 9-12 82.56 19 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) NE 7-12 82.56     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 31  Tables 38-42: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Overall Growth  Table 38: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) 7-12 232 84.84 2 Haas Hall Academy At The Lane (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 205 84.52 3 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 294 84.51 4 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 176 84.27 5 Danville High (Danville) 9-12 122 84.14   Table 39: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Calico Rock High (Calico Rock) 7-12 99 85.81 2 Quitman High (Quitman) 9-12 84 83.61 3 Concord High (Concord) 7-12 123 83.24 4 Rural Special High (Mountain View) 7-12 65 82.90 5 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 134 82.56 5 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) 7-12 199 82.56     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 32   Table 40: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 112 86.04 2 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 494 84.11 3 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 138 83.98 4 Conway Junior High (Conway) 8-9 1341 83.01 5 Sheridan High (Sheridan) 10-12 259 82.39   Table 41: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Murfreesboro High (South Pike County) 7-12 186 82.80 2 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 197 81.85 3 Fouke High (Fouke) 9-12 148 81.55 4 Sparkman High (Harmony Grove (Ouachita)) 7-12 38 81.47 5 Bradley High (Emerson-Taylor-Bradley) 7-12 91 81.39      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 33  Table 42: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 64 82.56 2 Woodlawn High (Woodlawn) 7-12 160 82.37 3 Barton High (Barton-Lexa) 7-12 211 82.22 4 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 323 81.83 5 Dewitt High (Dewitt) 9-12 156 81.12     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 34  H. High School Math ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 Table 43: Top 10 High Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy At The Lane (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 88.57 2 Calico Rock High (Calico Rock) NE 7-12 87.03 3 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 86.78 3 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 86.78 5 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 86.72 6 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 86.55 7 Quitman High (Quitman) NE 9-12 86.10 8 Bismarck High (Bismarck) CN 9-12 85.23 9 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) CN 8-9 85.11 10 Danville High (Danville) NW 9-12 84.70     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 35  Tables 44-48: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Math Growth  Table 44: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy At The Lane (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 205 88.57 2 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) 7-12 232 86.78 3 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 176 86.72 4 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 294 86.55 5 Danville High (Danville) 9-12 122 84.70   Table 45: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Calico Rock High (Calico Rock) 7-12 99 87.03 2 Quitman High (Quitman) 9-12 84 86.10 3 Maynard High (Maynard) 7-12 140 83.85 4 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 134 83.68 5 Gosnell High (Gosnell) 7-12 369 83.54     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 36  Table 46: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 112 86.78 2 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 138 85.23 3 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 493 85.11 4 Conway Junior High (Conway) 8-9 1341 84.66 5 eSTEM High (eSTEM Public Charter School) 10-12 170 83.12   Table 47: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Murfreesboro High (South Pike County) 7-12 186 83.34 2 Smackover High (Smackover-Norphlet) 9-12 170 82.48 3 Arkansas High (Texarkana) 9-12 435 82.01 4 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 197 81.61 5 El Dorado High (El Dorado) 9-12 592 81.55     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 37  Table 48: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Barton High (Barton-Lexa) 7-12 211 84.09 2 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 64 83.55 3 Woodlawn High (Woodlawn) 7-12 160 82.87 4 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 323 82.36 5 Des Arc High (Des Arc) 7-12 159 81.60     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 38  I. High School ELA ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 Table 49: Top 10 High Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 Shirley High (Shirley) NW 7-12 83.12 2 Rural Special High (Mountain View) NE 7-12 83.02 3 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 82.91 4 Bismarck High (Bismarck) CN 9-12 82.73 5 Clarksville High (Clarksville) NW 10-12 82.68 6 Ouachita High (Ouachita) CN 7-12 82.67 7 Jasper High (Jasper) NW 7-12 82.66 8 Greenland High (Greenland) NW 9-12 82.55 9 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) NE 7-12 82.52 10 Flippin High (Flippin) NW 9-12 82.51     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 39  Tables 50-54: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, ELA Growth  Table 50: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Shirley High (Shirley) 7-12 98 83.12 2 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) 7-12 232 82.91 3 Clarksville High (Clarksville) 10-12 180 82.68 4 Jasper High (Jasper) 7-12 141 82.66 5 Greenland High (Greenland) 9-12 97 82.55   Table 51: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Rural Special High (Mountain View) 7-12 65 83.02 2 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) 7-12 198 82.52 3 Beebe High (Beebe) 9-12 479 82.16 4 Tuckerman High (Jackson Co.) 8-12 194 81.98 5 Palestine-Wheatley Senior High (Palestine-Wheatley) 7-12 228 81.97     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 40  Table 52: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 138 82.73 2 Ouachita High (Ouachita) 7-12 164 82.67 3 Mills University Studies High (Pulaski County Special) 9-12 272 82.48 4 Poyen High (Poyen) 7-12 182 82.34 5 Sheridan High (Sheridan) 10-12 257 82.20   Table 53: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Murfreesboro High (South Pike County) 7-12 185 82.34 2 Fouke High (Fouke) 9-12 147 82.21 3 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 197 82.10 4 Sparkman High (Harmony Grove (Ouachita)) 7-12 38 81.96 5 Acorn High (Ouachita River) 7-12 158 81.85      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 41  Table 54: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Woodlawn High (Woodlawn) 7-12 160 81.86 2 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 64 81.56 3 Clarendon High (Clarendon) 7-12 102 81.45 4 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 323 81.31 5 KIPP:Delta Collegiate High (KIPP Delta Public Schools) 9-12 90 81.27  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2018-19 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included  • Grade Range • Grade Span (School Level) • Poverty Rate • Combined Content Growth Score Current Year • Combined Math Growth Score Current Year • Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf   

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Arkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy 10-23-2019 High-Growth Middle Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations Charlene A. Reid University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Sarah C. McKenzie University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport  Part of the Education Policy Commons, and the Other Education Commons Recommended Citation Reid, Charlene A. and McKenzie, Sarah C., "High-Growth Middle Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations" (2019). Arkansas Education Reports. 66. https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/66 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact ccmiddle@uark.edu.      ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 17, Issue 1    OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2019   HIGH-GROWTH MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMINATIONS   October 23, 2019 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie   Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 214 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 II. 2019 OEP Awards: High Achieving Middle Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ............................................................................................................. 16 D. Middle School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 ................................................ 17 E. Middle School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 .................................................... 21 F. Middle School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 ..................................................... 25 Appendix ................................................................................................................................. A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history.  Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2018-19 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency).  In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students. Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 16  II. 2019 OEP AWARDS: HIGH ACHIEVING MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS 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 2019 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the weighted achievement score, and the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 17  D. Middle School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 Table 19: Top 20 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) CN 5-8 86.60 2 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) NE 6-8 85.73 3 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) NE 7-8 85.30 4 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) CN 6-8 85.24 5 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) CN 5-7 84.68 6 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) CN 5-7 84.52 7 Eureka Springs Middle (Eureka Springs) NW 5-8 84.32 8 Northridge Middle (Van Buren) NW 6-8 84.26 9 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) NE 5-6 84.15 10 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) CN 7-8 84.02 11 Gravette Middle (Gravette) NW 6-8 83.95 12 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 83.91 12 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) NE 5-7 83.91 14 Greenbrier Middle (Greenbrier) CN 6-7 83.71 15 Glen Rose Middle (Glen Rose) CN 5-8 83.62 15 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) NE 7-8 83.62 17 Helen Tyson Middle (Springdale) NW 6-7 83.55 18 Bergman Middle (Bergman) NW 5-8 83.51 19 Woodland Junior High (Fayetteville) NW 7-8 83.47 20 Pinkston Middle (Mountain Home) NW 6-7 83.40 20 McNair Middle (Fayetteville) NW 5-6 83.40     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 18  Tables 20-24: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Overall Growth  Table 20: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Eureka Springs Middle (Eureka Springs) 5-8 174 84.32 2 Northridge Middle (Van Buren) 6-8 557 84.26 3 Gravette Middle (Gravette) 6-8 402 83.95 4 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 737 83.91 5 Helen Tyson Middle (Springdale) 6-7 642 83.55   Table 21: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 326 85.73 2 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) 7-8 420 85.30 3 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) 5-6 408 84.15 4 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) 5-7 176 83.91 5 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) 7-8 457 83.62     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 19   Table 22: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) 5-8 100 86.60 2 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) 6-8 212 85.24 3 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) 5-7 388 84.68 4 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) 5-7 554 84.52 5 Cabot Junior High North(Cabot) 7-8 778 84.02   Table 23: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Ashdown Junior High (Ashdown) 6-8 294 82.45 2 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 192 82.28 3 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 219 82.27 4 Mena Middle (Mena) 6-8 362 81.45 5 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 338 81.27      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 20  Table 24: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Dewitt Middle (Dewitt) 6-8 277 82.36 2 Stuttgart Junior High (Stuttgart) 7-8 206 81.09 3 Monticello Middle (Monticello) 6-8 398 80.90 4 Star City Middle (Star City) 6-8 305 80.88 5 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 351 79.87     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 21  E. Middle School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 Table 25: Top 10 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) CN 5-8 90.12 2 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) CN 6-8 88.55 3 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) NE 7-8 88.04 4 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) NE 7-8 87.71 5 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) CN 6-8 87.13 6 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) CN 5-7 87.01 7 Woodland Junior High (Fayetteville) CN 7-8 86.74 8 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 86.64 9 Pinkston Middle (Mountain Home) NW 6-7 86.45 10 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) NW 5-7 86.27     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 22  Tables 26-30: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Math Growth  Table 26: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Woodland Junior High (Fayetteville) 7-8 656 86.74 2 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 632 86.64 3 Pinkston Middle (Mountain Home) 6-7 566 86.45 4 Helen Tyson Middle (Springdale) 6-7 642 86.19 5 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 737 86.10   Table 27: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 326 88.55 2 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) 7-8 420 88.04 3 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) 5-7 176 85.97 4 Beebe Middle (Beebe) 5-6 480 85.02 5 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) 7-8 457 84.56     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 23  Table 28: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) 5-8 100 90.12 2 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) 7-8 778 87.71 3 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) 6-8 212 87.13 4 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) 5-7 388 87.01 5 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) 5-7 554 86.27   Table 29: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 College Hill Middle (Texarkana) 6-6 298 83.35 2 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 338 82.57 3 Ashdown Junior High (Ashdown) 6-8 294 82.10 4 Goza Middle (Arkadelphia) 6-8 379 82.03 5 Barton Jr. High (El Dorado) 7-8 599 82.01     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 24  Table 30: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Dewitt Middle (Dewitt) 6-8 277 84.43 2 Stuttgart Junior High (Stuttgart) 7-8 206 82.22 2 Star City Middle (Star City) 6-8 305 82.22 4 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 351 80.93 5 KIPP:Delta College Prep (KIPP Delta Public Schools) 6-8 188 79.68     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 25  F. Middle School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 Table 31: Top 10 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) SW 5-6 85.97 2 Bergman Middle (Bergman) NW 5-8 85.75 3 Yerger Junior High (Hope) SW 7-8 84.68 4 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) NW 5-8 84.50 5 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) NE 5-6 84.43 6 Ruth Barker Middle (Bentonville) NW 5-6 84.24 7 Northridge Middle (Van Buren) NW 6-8 84.00 8 Westside Middle (Westside Cons. (Craighead)) NE 5-7 83.93 9 Riverview Junior High (Riverview) NE 7-8 83.79 10 Decatur Middle (Decatur) NW P-8 83.59     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 26  Tables 32-36: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, ELA Growth  Table 32: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Bergman Middle (Bergman) 5-8 297 85.75 2 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) 5-8 110 84.50 3 Ruth Barker Middle (Bentonville) 5-6 436 84.24 4 Northridge Middle (Van Buren) 6-8 557 84.00 5 Decatur Middle (Decatur) P-8 139 83.59   Table 33: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) 5-6 408 84.43 2 Westside Middle (Westside Cons. (Craighead)) 5-7 383 83.93 3 Riverview Junior High (Riverview) 7-8 162 83.79 4 Southside Junior High (Southside (Independence)) 7-9 417 83.54 5 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 326 82.92     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 27  Table 34: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) 6-8 212 83.36 2 Bauxite Middle (Bauxite) 6-8 340 83.21 3 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) 5-8 100 83.09 4 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) 5-7 554 82.76 5 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) 5-7 388 82.35   Table 35: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 219 85.97 2 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 191 84.68 3 Ashdown Junior High (Ashdown) 6-8 294 82.80 4 Nashville Junior High (Nashville) 7-9 420 82.20 5 Hope Academy Of Public Service (Hope) 5-9 240 82.06      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 28  Table 36: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Monticello Middle (Monticello) 6-8 398 82.53 2 Lakeside Middle (Lakeside (Chicot)) 6-8 215 81.00 3 Dewitt Middle (Dewitt) 6-8 277 80.29 4 Dumas Junior High (Dumas) 7-9 243 79.97 5 Stuttgart Junior High (Stuttgart) 7-8 206 79.96  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2018-19 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included  Grade Range  Grade Span (School Level)  Poverty Rate  Combined Content Growth Score Current Year  Combined Math Growth Score Current Year  Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf 

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Arkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy 11-14-2018 High-Growth Middle Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations Charlene A. Reid University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Sarah C. McKenzie University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport  Part of the Education Policy Commons, and the Other Education Commons Citation Reid, C. A., & McKenzie, S. C. (2018). High-Growth Middle Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations. Arkansas Education Reports. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/63 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu. ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 16, Issue 4 OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2018 HIGH-GROWTH MIDDLE SCHOOLS INARKANSAS BASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THEACT ASPIRE EXAMINATIONSNovember 14, 2018 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 211 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 II. 2018 OEP Awards: High Achieving Middle Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ................................................................................................................. 16 D. Middle School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 ................................................. 17 E. Middle School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 ..................................................... 21 F. Middle School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 ...................................................... 25 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history. Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2017-18 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency). In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students. Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 16  II. 2018 OEP AWARDS: HIGH ACHIEVING MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS This section highlights middle 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.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the number of students tested, and the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 17  D. Middle School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 Table 19: Top 20 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) NE 6-8 86.35 2 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) NW 5-8 86.02 3 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) CN 6-8 85.34 3 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) NE 5-6 85.34 5 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) CN 5-6 85.31 6 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 85.23 7 L. A. Chaffin Junior High (Fort Smith) NW 7-9 85.08 8 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) CN 7-8 85.07 9 Manila Middle (Manila) NE 5-8 84.98 10 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) NE 7-8 84.93 11 J. William Fulbright Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 84.62 12 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) NE 5-7 84.49 13 Bismarck Middle (Bismarck) CN 5-8 84.19 14 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 83.97 15 Cedarville Middle (Cedarville) NW 5-8 83.94 16 Gravette Middle (Gravette) NW 6-8 83.79 17 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) NW 5-8 83.78 18 LISA Academy (LISA Academy) CN 7-8 83.46 19 Helen Tyson Middle (Springdale) NW 6-7 83.37 20 Butterfield Trail Middle (Van Buren) NW 6-8 83.29     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 18  Tables 20-24: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Overall Growth  Table 20: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) 5-8 258 86.02 2 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 738 85.23 3 L. A. Chaffin Junior High (Fort Smith) 7-9 704 85.08 4 J. William Fulbright Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 822 84.62 5 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 658 83.97   Table 21: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 337 86.35 2 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) 5-6 416 85.34 3 Manila Middle (Manila) 5-8 319 84.98 4 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) 7-8 435 84.93 5 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) 5-7 181 84.49     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 19   Table 22: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) 6-8 210 85.34 2 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) 5-6 758 85.31 3 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) 7-8 774 85.07 4 Bismarck Middle (Bismarck) 5-8 282 84.19 5 LISA Academy (LISA Academy) 7-8 327 83.46   Table 23: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 234 83.11 2 Barton Junior High (El Dorado) 7-8 640 80.60 3 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 190 80.54 4 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 297 80.44 5 Mena Middle (Mena) 6-8 351 80.08      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 20  Table 24: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 DeWitt Middle (DeWitt) 6-8 262 81.51 2 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 359 80.59 3 KIPP:Delta College Prep (KIPP Delta Public Schools) 6-8 194 80.07 4 Dumas Junior High (Dumas) 7-9 223 80.05 5 Monticello Middle (Monticello) 6-8 377 80.04     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 21  E. Middle School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 Table 25: Top 10 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) NE 7-8 88.75 2 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) CN 7-8 88.05 3 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 87.35 3 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) CN 6-8 87.35 5 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) NE 7-8 87.00 5 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) CN 5-6 87.00 5 Manila Middle (Manila) NE 5-8 87.00 5 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) NE 5-7 87.00 5 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) NW 5-8 87.00 10 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) NE 6-8 86.65 10 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 86.65     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 22  Tables 26-30: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Math Growth  Table 26: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 738 87.35 2 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) 5-8 258 87.00 3 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 658 86.65 4 Mansfield Middle (Mansfield) 5-8 226 85.95 5 J. William Fulbright Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 822 85.60   Table 27: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) 7-8 435 88.75 2 Manila Middle (Manila) 5-8 319 87.00 2 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) 5-7 181 87.00 2 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) 7-8 482 87.00 5 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 337 86.65     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 23  Table 28: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) 7-8 774 88.05 2 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) 6-8 210 87.35 3 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) 5-6 758 87.00 4 Bismarck Middle (Bismarck) 5-8 282 86.30 5 LISA Academy (LISA Academy) 7-8 327 85.60 5 Vilonia Middle (Vilonia) 7-8 475 85.60   Table 29: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 234 82.80 2 Barton Junior High (El Dorado) 7-8 640 81.05 3 Gary E. Cobb Middle (Genoa Central) 5-8 340 80.35 4 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 190 80.00 5 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 297 79.65 5 Mena Middle (Mena) 6-8 351 79.65     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 24  Table 30: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 DeWitt Middle (DeWitt) 6-8 262 83.50 2 KIPP: Delta College Prep (KIPP Delta Public Schools) 6-8 194 80.70 3 Stuttgart Junior High (Stuttgart) 7-8 208 80.35 3 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 359 80.35 5 Hamburg Middle (Hamburg) 6-8 350 79.65     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 25  F. Middle School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 Table 31: Top 10 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) NW 5-8 86.65 2 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) NE 6-8 85.95 3 L. A. Chaffin Junior High (Fort Smith) NW 7-9 85.25 3 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) NE 5-6 85.25 3 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) NW 5-8 85.25 6 Bergman Middle (Bergman) NW 5-8 84.20 6 Greenwood Junior High (Greenwood) NW 7-8 84.20 8 Ardis Ann Middle (Bentonville) NW 5-6 83.85 8 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) CN 5-6 83.85 8 Hellstern Middle (Springdale) NW 6-7 83.85 8 J. William Fulbright Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 83.85 8 Westside Middle (Westside Cons. (Craighead)) NE 5-7 83.85     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 26  Tables 32-36: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, ELA Growth  Table 32: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) 5-8 96 86.65 2 L. A. Chaffin Junior High (Fort Smith) 7-9 704 85.25 2 Valley Springs Middle (Valley Springs) 5-8 258 85.25 4 Bergman Middle (Bergman) 5-8 293 84.20 4 Greenwood Junior High (Greenwood) 7-8 560 84.20   Table 33: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 337 85.95 2 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) 5-6 414 85.25 3 Westside Middle (Westside Cons. (Craighead)) 5-7 360 83.85 4 Manila Middle (Manila) 5-8 318 83.15 5 Imboden Area Charter (Imboden Charter) K-8 37 82.45     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 27  Table 34: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Cabot Middle North (Cabot) 5-6 758 83.85 2 LISA Academy North Middle Charter (LISA Academy) 6-8 210 83.50 3 Bob Courtway Middle (Conway) 5-7 440 83.15 4 Cabot Junior High South (Cabot) 7-8 654 82.80 4 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) 5-7 382 82.80   Table 35: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 234 83.15 2 North Heights Junior High (Texarkana) 7-8 479 81.75 3 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 297 81.40 3 Paulette Smith Middle (Fouke) 6-8 203 81.40 5 Hope Academy (Hope) P-9 200 81.05 5 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 188 81.05      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 28  Table 36: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Monticello Middle (Monticello) 6-8 376 83.50 2 Dumas Junior High (Dumas) 7-9 223 81.75 3 Lakeside Middle (Lakeside (Chicot)) 6-8 199 80.70 3 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 358 80.70 5 Star City Middle (Star City) 6-8 322 80.35  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2017-18 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included • Final Weighted Achievement Adjusted for 95% Tested • Grade Range • Grade Span (School Level) • Poverty Rate • Combined Content Growth Score Current Year • Combined Math Growth Score Current Year • Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf 

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Arkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy 10-23-2019 High-Growth Middle Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations Charlene A. Reid University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Sarah C. McKenzie University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport  Part of the Education Policy Commons, and the Other Education Commons Citation Reid, C. A., & McKenzie, S. C. (2019). High-Growth Middle Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations. Arkansas Education Reports. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/66 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu.      ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 17, Issue 1    OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2019   HIGH-GROWTH MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMINATIONS   October 23, 2019 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie   Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 214 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 II. 2019 OEP Awards: High Achieving Middle Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ............................................................................................................. 16 D. Middle School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 ................................................ 17 E. Middle School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 .................................................... 21 F. Middle School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 ..................................................... 25 Appendix ................................................................................................................................. A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history.  Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2018-19 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency).  In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students. Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 16  II. 2019 OEP AWARDS: HIGH ACHIEVING MIDDLE SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS 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 2019 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the weighted achievement score, and the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 17  D. Middle School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 Table 19: Top 20 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) CN 5-8 86.60 2 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) NE 6-8 85.73 3 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) NE 7-8 85.30 4 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) CN 6-8 85.24 5 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) CN 5-7 84.68 6 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) CN 5-7 84.52 7 Eureka Springs Middle (Eureka Springs) NW 5-8 84.32 8 Northridge Middle (Van Buren) NW 6-8 84.26 9 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) NE 5-6 84.15 10 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) CN 7-8 84.02 11 Gravette Middle (Gravette) NW 6-8 83.95 12 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 83.91 12 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) NE 5-7 83.91 14 Greenbrier Middle (Greenbrier) CN 6-7 83.71 15 Glen Rose Middle (Glen Rose) CN 5-8 83.62 15 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) NE 7-8 83.62 17 Helen Tyson Middle (Springdale) NW 6-7 83.55 18 Bergman Middle (Bergman) NW 5-8 83.51 19 Woodland Junior High (Fayetteville) NW 7-8 83.47 20 Pinkston Middle (Mountain Home) NW 6-7 83.40 20 McNair Middle (Fayetteville) NW 5-6 83.40     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 18  Tables 20-24: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Overall Growth  Table 20: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Eureka Springs Middle (Eureka Springs) 5-8 174 84.32 2 Northridge Middle (Van Buren) 6-8 557 84.26 3 Gravette Middle (Gravette) 6-8 402 83.95 4 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 737 83.91 5 Helen Tyson Middle (Springdale) 6-7 642 83.55   Table 21: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 326 85.73 2 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) 7-8 420 85.30 3 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) 5-6 408 84.15 4 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) 5-7 176 83.91 5 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) 7-8 457 83.62     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 19   Table 22: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) 5-8 100 86.60 2 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) 6-8 212 85.24 3 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) 5-7 388 84.68 4 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) 5-7 554 84.52 5 Cabot Junior High North(Cabot) 7-8 778 84.02   Table 23: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Ashdown Junior High (Ashdown) 6-8 294 82.45 2 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 192 82.28 3 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 219 82.27 4 Mena Middle (Mena) 6-8 362 81.45 5 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 338 81.27      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 20  Table 24: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall Middle ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Dewitt Middle (Dewitt) 6-8 277 82.36 2 Stuttgart Junior High (Stuttgart) 7-8 206 81.09 3 Monticello Middle (Monticello) 6-8 398 80.90 4 Star City Middle (Star City) 6-8 305 80.88 5 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 351 79.87     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 21  E. Middle School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 Table 25: Top 10 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) CN 5-8 90.12 2 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) CN 6-8 88.55 3 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) NE 7-8 88.04 4 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) NE 7-8 87.71 5 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) CN 6-8 87.13 6 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) CN 5-7 87.01 7 Woodland Junior High (Fayetteville) CN 7-8 86.74 8 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) NW 7-8 86.64 9 Pinkston Middle (Mountain Home) NW 6-7 86.45 10 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) NW 5-7 86.27     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 22  Tables 26-30: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Math Growth  Table 26: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Woodland Junior High (Fayetteville) 7-8 656 86.74 2 Washington Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 632 86.64 3 Pinkston Middle (Mountain Home) 6-7 566 86.45 4 Helen Tyson Middle (Springdale) 6-7 642 86.19 5 Lincoln Junior High (Bentonville) 7-8 737 86.10   Table 27: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 326 88.55 2 Paragould Junior High (Paragould) 7-8 420 88.04 3 Swifton Middle (Jackson Co.) 5-7 176 85.97 4 Beebe Middle (Beebe) 5-6 480 85.02 5 Beebe Junior High (Beebe) 7-8 457 84.56     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 23  Table 28: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) 5-8 100 90.12 2 Cabot Junior High North (Cabot) 7-8 778 87.71 3 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) 6-8 212 87.13 4 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) 5-7 388 87.01 5 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) 5-7 554 86.27   Table 29: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 College Hill Middle (Texarkana) 6-6 298 83.35 2 DeQueen Middle (DeQueen) 6-7 338 82.57 3 Ashdown Junior High (Ashdown) 6-8 294 82.10 4 Goza Middle (Arkadelphia) 6-8 379 82.03 5 Barton Jr. High (El Dorado) 7-8 599 82.01     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 24  Table 30: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Middle Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Dewitt Middle (Dewitt) 6-8 277 84.43 2 Stuttgart Junior High (Stuttgart) 7-8 206 82.22 2 Star City Middle (Star City) 6-8 305 82.22 4 Warren Middle (Warren) 6-8 351 80.93 5 KIPP:Delta College Prep (KIPP Delta Public Schools) 6-8 188 79.68     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 25  F. Middle School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2019 Table 31: Top 10 Middle Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) SW 5-6 85.97 2 Bergman Middle (Bergman) NW 5-8 85.75 3 Yerger Junior High (Hope) SW 7-8 84.68 4 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) NW 5-8 84.50 5 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) NE 5-6 84.43 6 Ruth Barker Middle (Bentonville) NW 5-6 84.24 7 Northridge Middle (Van Buren) NW 6-8 84.00 8 Westside Middle (Westside Cons. (Craighead)) NE 5-7 83.93 9 Riverview Junior High (Riverview) NE 7-8 83.79 10 Decatur Middle (Decatur) NW P-8 83.59     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 26  Tables 32-36: Top 5 Middle Schools in Arkansas by Regions, ELA Growth  Table 32: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Bergman Middle (Bergman) 5-8 297 85.75 2 Pleasant View Campus (Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County Schools) 5-8 110 84.50 3 Ruth Barker Middle (Bentonville) 5-6 436 84.24 4 Northridge Middle (Van Buren) 6-8 557 84.00 5 Decatur Middle (Decatur) P-8 139 83.59   Table 33: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Oak Grove Middle (Paragould) 5-6 408 84.43 2 Westside Middle (Westside Cons. (Craighead)) 5-7 383 83.93 3 Riverview Junior High (Riverview) 7-8 162 83.79 4 Southside Junior High (Southside (Independence)) 7-9 417 83.54 5 Heber Springs Middle (Heber Springs) 6-8 326 82.92     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 27  Table 34: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Lisa Academy North Middle Charter (Lisa Academy) 6-8 212 83.36 2 Bauxite Middle (Bauxite) 6-8 340 83.21 3 Flightline Upper Academy (Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter) 5-8 100 83.09 4 Ruth Doyle Middle (Conway) 5-7 554 82.76 5 Ray/Phyllis Simon Middle (Conway) 5-7 388 82.35   Table 35: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Beryl Henry Upper Elementary (Hope) 5-6 219 85.97 2 Yerger Junior High (Hope) 7-8 191 84.68 3 Ashdown Junior High (Ashdown) 6-8 294 82.80 4 Nashville Junior High (Nashville) 7-9 420 82.20 5 Hope Academy Of Public Service (Hope) 5-9 240 82.06      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 28  Table 36: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Middle ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Monticello Middle (Monticello) 6-8 398 82.53 2 Lakeside Middle (Lakeside (Chicot)) 6-8 215 81.00 3 Dewitt Middle (Dewitt) 6-8 277 80.29 4 Dumas Junior High (Dumas) 7-9 243 79.97 5 Stuttgart Junior High (Stuttgart) 7-8 206 79.96  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2018-19 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included  Grade Range  Grade Span (School Level)  Poverty Rate  Combined Content Growth Score Current Year  Combined Math Growth Score Current Year  Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf 

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Arkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy 10-30-2019 High-Growth High Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations Charlene A. Reid University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Sarah C. McKenzie University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport  Part of the Education Policy Commons, and the Secondary Education Commons Citation Reid, C. A., & McKenzie, S. C. (2019). High-Growth High Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT Aspire Examinations. Arkansas Education Reports. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/65 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu.      ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 17, Issue 1    OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2019   HIGH-GROWTH HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMINATIONS   October 30, 2019 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie   Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 214 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 III. 2019 OEP Awards: High Achieving High Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ................................................................................................................. 29 G. High School Overall ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 .................................................................. 30 H. High School Math ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 ...................................................................... 34 I. High School ELA ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 ........................................................................ 38 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history.  Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2018-19 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency).  In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students. Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 29  III. 2019 OEP AWARDS: HIGH ACHIEVING HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS 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 2019 in Math and ELA courses which include English, Writing, and Reading.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the weighted achievement score, and the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 30  G. High School Overall ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 Table 37: Top 20 High Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 86.04 2 Calico Rock High (Calico Rock) NE 7-12 85.81 3 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 84.84 4 Haas Hall Academy At The Lane (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.52 5 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.51 6 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.27 7 Danville High (Danville) NW 9-12 84.14 8 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) CN 8-9 84.11 9 Pottsville High (Pottsville) NW 10-12 84.07 10 Bismarck High (Bismarck) CN 9-12 83.98 11 Eureka Springs High (Eureka Springs) NW 9-12 83.79 12 Quitman High (Quitman) NE 9-12 83.61 13 Concord High (Concord) NE 7-12 83.24 14 Kingston High (Jasper) NW 7-12 83.02 15 Conway Junior High (Conway) CN 8-9 83.01 16 Rural Special High (Mountain View) NE 7-12 82.90 17 Murfreesboro High (South Pike County) SW 7-12 82.80 18 Flippin High (Flippin) NW 9-12 82.76 19 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) NE 10-12 82.56 19 Hazen High (Hazen) SE 9-12 82.56 19 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) NE 7-12 82.56     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 31  Tables 38-42: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Overall Growth  Table 38: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) 7-12 232 84.84 2 Haas Hall Academy At The Lane (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 205 84.52 3 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 294 84.51 4 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 176 84.27 5 Danville High (Danville) 9-12 122 84.14   Table 39: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Calico Rock High (Calico Rock) 7-12 99 85.81 2 Quitman High (Quitman) 9-12 84 83.61 3 Concord High (Concord) 7-12 123 83.24 4 Rural Special High (Mountain View) 7-12 65 82.90 5 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 134 82.56 5 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) 7-12 199 82.56     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 32   Table 40: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 112 86.04 2 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 494 84.11 3 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 138 83.98 4 Conway Junior High (Conway) 8-9 1341 83.01 5 Sheridan High (Sheridan) 10-12 259 82.39   Table 41: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Murfreesboro High (South Pike County) 7-12 186 82.80 2 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 197 81.85 3 Fouke High (Fouke) 9-12 148 81.55 4 Sparkman High (Harmony Grove (Ouachita)) 7-12 38 81.47 5 Bradley High (Emerson-Taylor-Bradley) 7-12 91 81.39      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 33  Table 42: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 64 82.56 2 Woodlawn High (Woodlawn) 7-12 160 82.37 3 Barton High (Barton-Lexa) 7-12 211 82.22 4 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 323 81.83 5 Dewitt High (Dewitt) 9-12 156 81.12     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 34  H. High School Math ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 Table 43: Top 10 High Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy At The Lane (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 88.57 2 Calico Rock High (Calico Rock) NE 7-12 87.03 3 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 86.78 3 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 86.78 5 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 86.72 6 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 86.55 7 Quitman High (Quitman) NE 9-12 86.10 8 Bismarck High (Bismarck) CN 9-12 85.23 9 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) CN 8-9 85.11 10 Danville High (Danville) NW 9-12 84.70     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 35  Tables 44-48: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Math Growth  Table 44: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy At The Lane (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 205 88.57 2 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) 7-12 232 86.78 3 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 176 86.72 4 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 294 86.55 5 Danville High (Danville) 9-12 122 84.70   Table 45: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Calico Rock High (Calico Rock) 7-12 99 87.03 2 Quitman High (Quitman) 9-12 84 86.10 3 Maynard High (Maynard) 7-12 140 83.85 4 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 134 83.68 5 Gosnell High (Gosnell) 7-12 369 83.54     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 36  Table 46: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 112 86.78 2 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 138 85.23 3 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 493 85.11 4 Conway Junior High (Conway) 8-9 1341 84.66 5 eSTEM High (eSTEM Public Charter School) 10-12 170 83.12   Table 47: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Murfreesboro High (South Pike County) 7-12 186 83.34 2 Smackover High (Smackover-Norphlet) 9-12 170 82.48 3 Arkansas High (Texarkana) 9-12 435 82.01 4 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 197 81.61 5 El Dorado High (El Dorado) 9-12 592 81.55     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 37  Table 48: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Barton High (Barton-Lexa) 7-12 211 84.09 2 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 64 83.55 3 Woodlawn High (Woodlawn) 7-12 160 82.87 4 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 323 82.36 5 Des Arc High (Des Arc) 7-12 159 81.60     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 38  I. High School ELA ACT Aspire Scores, 2019 Table 49: Top 10 High Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 Shirley High (Shirley) NW 7-12 83.12 2 Rural Special High (Mountain View) NE 7-12 83.02 3 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 82.91 4 Bismarck High (Bismarck) CN 9-12 82.73 5 Clarksville High (Clarksville) NW 10-12 82.68 6 Ouachita High (Ouachita) CN 7-12 82.67 7 Jasper High (Jasper) NW 7-12 82.66 8 Greenland High (Greenland) NW 9-12 82.55 9 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) NE 7-12 82.52 10 Flippin High (Flippin) NW 9-12 82.51     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 39  Tables 50-54: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, ELA Growth  Table 50: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Shirley High (Shirley) 7-12 98 83.12 2 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) 7-12 232 82.91 3 Clarksville High (Clarksville) 10-12 180 82.68 4 Jasper High (Jasper) 7-12 141 82.66 5 Greenland High (Greenland) 9-12 97 82.55   Table 51: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Rural Special High (Mountain View) 7-12 65 83.02 2 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) 7-12 198 82.52 3 Beebe High (Beebe) 9-12 479 82.16 4 Tuckerman High (Jackson Co.) 8-12 194 81.98 5 Palestine-Wheatley Senior High (Palestine-Wheatley) 7-12 228 81.97     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 40  Table 52: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 138 82.73 2 Ouachita High (Ouachita) 7-12 164 82.67 3 Mills University Studies High (Pulaski County Special) 9-12 272 82.48 4 Poyen High (Poyen) 7-12 182 82.34 5 Sheridan High (Sheridan) 10-12 257 82.20   Table 53: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Murfreesboro High (South Pike County) 7-12 185 82.34 2 Fouke High (Fouke) 9-12 147 82.21 3 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 197 82.10 4 Sparkman High (Harmony Grove (Ouachita)) 7-12 38 81.96 5 Acorn High (Ouachita River) 7-12 158 81.85      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page 41  Table 54: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Woodlawn High (Woodlawn) 7-12 160 81.86 2 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 64 81.56 3 Clarendon High (Clarendon) 7-12 102 81.45 4 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 323 81.31 5 KIPP:Delta Collegiate High (KIPP Delta Public Schools) 9-12 90 81.27  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2019 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2018-19 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included  • Grade Range • Grade Span (School Level) • Poverty Rate • Combined Content Growth Score Current Year • Combined Math Growth Score Current Year • Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf   

University of Arkansas, FayettevilleScholarWorks@UARKArkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy11-28-2018High-Growth High Schools in Arkansas Based onPerformance on the ACT Aspire ExaminationsCharlene A. ReidUniversity of Arkansas, FayettevilleSarah C. McKenzieUniversity of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreportPart of the Education Policy Commons, and the Secondary Education CommonsThis Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusionin Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu,ccmiddle@uark.edu.Recommended CitationReid, Charlene A. and McKenzie, Sarah C., "High-Growth High Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT AspireExaminations" (2018). Arkansas Education Reports. 64.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/64ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 16, Issue 4 OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2018 HIGH-GROWTH HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARKANSASBASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THE ACTASPIRE EXAMINATIONSNovember 28, 2018 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 211 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 III. 2018 OEP Awards: High Achieving High Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ................................................................................................................. 29 G. High School Overall ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 .................................................................. 30 H. High School Math ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 ...................................................................... 34 I. High School ELA ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 ........................................................................ 38 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history. Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2017-18 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency). In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students. Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 29  III. 2018 OEP AWARDS: HIGH ACHIEVING HIGH SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS This section highlights high 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.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school, the weighted achievement score, and the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 30  G. High School Overall ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 Table 37: Top 20 High Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 86.63 2 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) NE 10-12 85.12 3 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) NW 9 85.06 4 Haas Hall Academy At the Lane (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.83 5 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 84.75 6 Washington Academy (Texarkana) SW 7-12 84.66 7 Eureka Springs High (Eureka Springs) NW 9-12 84.65 8 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) CN 8-9 84.50 9 South Side High (South Side (Van Buren)) NW 7-12 84.48 10 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 84.31 11 Danville High (Danville) NW 9-12 84.20 12 Dardanelle High (Dardanelle) NW 9-12 83.98 13 Greenwood Freshman Center (Greenwood) NW 9 83.85 14 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 83.66 15 Russellville Junior High (Russellville) NW 8-9 83.61 16 Ouachita High (Ouachita) CN 7-12 82.98 17 Hazen High (Hazen) SE 9-12 82.95 18 Arkansas Arts Academy High (Arkansas Arts Academy) NW 9-12 82.86 19 Arkansas High (Texarkana) SW 9-12 82.64 20 Concord High (Concord) NE 7-12 82.62     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 31  Tables 38-42: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Overall Growth  Table 38: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) 9 362 85.06 2 Haas Hall Academy At the Lane (Haas Hall Academy ) 7-12 107 84.83 3 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 123 84.75 4 Eureka Springs High (Eureka Springs) 9-12 79 84.65 5 South Side High (South Side (Van Buren)) 7-12 154 84.48   Table 39: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 141 85.12 2 Concord High (Concord) 7-12 129 82.62 3 Batesville High (Batesville) 10-12 212 82.52 4 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) 7-12 200 82.44 5 Quitman High (Quitman) 7-12 178 82.40     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 32   Table 40: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 92 86.63 2 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 498 84.50 3 Ouachita High (Ouachita) 7-12 150 82.98 4 Sheridan High (Sheridan) 10-12 296 82.60 5 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 133 82.48   Table 41: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Washington Academy (Texarkana) 7-12 25 84.66 2 Arkansas High (Texarkana) 9-12 436 82.64 3 Junction City High (Junction City) 7-12 194 82.30 4 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 214 82.29 5 DeQueen Junior High (DeQueen) 8-9 324 81.62      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 33  Table 42: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall High ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 79 82.95 2 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 309 82.00 3 Des Arc High (Des Arc) 7-12 154 81.87 4 Star City High (Star City) 9-12 224 81.76 5 Hamburg High (Hamburg) 9-12 297 81.42     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 34  H. High School Math ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 Table 43: Top 10 High Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy At the Lane (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 88.05 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 88.05 3 Hazen High (Hazen) SE 9-12 87.70 4 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) NW 7-12 86.65 4 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 86.65 4 South Side High (South Side (Van Buren)) NW 7-12 86.65 7 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) CN 8-9 85.95 7 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) NW 7-12 85.95 7 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) NE 10-12 85.95 7 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) NW 9 85.95     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 35  Tables 44-48: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, Math Growth  Table 44: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Haas Hall Academy At the Lane (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 107 88.05 2 Haas Hall Academy Bentonville (Haas Hall Bentonville) 7-12 201 86.65 2 Haas Hall Academy Jones Center (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 123 86.65 2 South Side High (South Side (Van Buren)) 7-12 154 86.65 5 Haas Hall Academy (Haas Hall Academy) 7-12 214 85.95 5 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) 9 362 85.95  Table 45: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 140 85.95 2 Quitman High (Quitman) 7-12 178 85.25 3 Gosnell High (Gosnell) 7-12 358 84.20 4 Concord High (Concord) 7-12 129 83.15 4 Manila High (Manila) 9-12 149 83.15    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 36  Table 46: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 92 88.05 2 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 498 85.95 3 SIATech High Charter (SIATech Little Rock Charter) 9-12 7 84.90 4 Ouachita High (Ouachita) 7-12 150 83.85 5 Bismarck High (Bismarck) 9-12 133 83.50   Table 47: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Arkansas High (Texarkana) 9-12 436 83.50 1 Washington Academy (Texarkana) 7-12 25 83.50 3 Junction City High (Junction City) 7-12 194 82.45 4 DeQueen Junior High (DeQueen) 8-9 324 81.75 5 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 214 81.40 5 Smackover High (Smackover-Norphlet) 9-12 151 81.40     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 37  Table 48: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on High Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Hazen High (Hazen) 9-12 79 87.70 2 Des Arc High (Des Arc) 7-12 154 82.10 3 Hamburg High (Hamburg) 9-12 297 81.75 3 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 309 81.75 5 Star City High (Star City) 9-12 224 81.40     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 38  I. High School ELA ACT Aspire Scores, 2018 Table 49: Top 10 High Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 Washington Academy (Texarkana) SW 7-12 85.95 2 Danville High (Danville) NW 9-12 85.25 2 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) CN 9-12 85.25 4 Shirley High (Shirley) NW 7-12 84.55 5 Capital City Lighthouse Upper Academy (Capital City Lighthouse Academy) CN 7-12 84.20 5 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) NE 10-12 84.20 5 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) NW 9-9 84.20 8 Cross County High A New Tech (Cross County) NE 7-12 83.85 8 Greenwood Freshman Center (Greenwood) NW 9-9 83.85 8 Lavaca High (Lavaca) NW 9-12 83.85 8 Lead Hill High (Lead Hill) NW 7-12 83.85 8 Russellville Junior High (Russellville) NW 8-9 83.85     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 39  Tables 50-54: Top 5 High Schools in Arkansas by Regions, ELA Growth  Table 50: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Danville High (Danville) 9-12 120 85.25 2 Shirley High (Shirley) 7-12 102 84.55 3 Van Buren Freshman Academy (Van Buren) 9-9 361 84.20 4 Greenwood Freshman Center (Greenwood) 9-9 253 83.85 4 Lavaca High (Lavaca) 9-12 115 83.85 4 Lead Hill High (Lead Hill) 7-12 98 83.85 4 Russellville Junior High (Russellville) 8-9 675 83.85   Table 51: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Southside Charter High (Southside (Independence)) 10-12 141 84.20 2 Cross County High A New Tech (Cross County) 7-12 161 83.85 3 Marmaduke High (Marmaduke) 7-12 200 82.80 3 Tuckerman High (Jackson Co.) 8-12 187 82.80 5 Batesville High (Batesville) 10-12 208 82.45 5 Heber Springs High (Heber Springs) 9-12 226 82.45 5 Izard Co. Cons. High (Izard County Consolidated) 9-12 55 82.45     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 40  Table 52: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 LISA Academy North High Charter (LISA Academy) 9-12 92 85.25 2 Capital City Lighthouse Upper Academy (Capital City Lighthouse Academy) 7-12 11 84.20 3 Dollarway High (Dollarway) 9-12 127 83.50 3 Sheridan High (Sheridan) 10-12 295 83.50 5 Greenbrier Junior High (Greenbrier) 8-9 498 83.15   Table 53: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Washington Academy (Texarkana) 7-12 25 85.95 2 Ashdown High (Ashdown) 9-12 214 83.15 3 Caddo Hills High (Caddo Hills) 7-12 157 82.80 4 Strong High (Strong-Huttig) 7-12 63 82.45 5 Junction City High (Junction City) 7-12 194 82.10      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 41  Table 54: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on High ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Hermitage High (Hermitage) 7-12 144 82.45 2 Rison High (Cleveland County) 6-12 308 82.10 2 Star City High (Star City) 9-12 224 82.10 4 Des Arc High (Des Arc) 7-12 154 81.75 4 DeWitt High (DeWitt) 9-12 162 81.75  Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2017-18 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included • Final Weighted Achievement Adjusted for 95% Tested • Grade Range • Grade Span (School Level) • Poverty Rate • Combined Content Growth Score Current Year • Combined Math Growth Score Current Year • Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf   

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

University of Arkansas, FayettevilleScholarWorks@UARKArkansas Education Reports Office for Education Policy11-7-2018High-Growth Elementary Schools in ArkansasBased on Performance on the ACT AspireExaminationsCharlene A. ReidUniversity of Arkansas, FayettevilleSarah C. McKenzieUniversity of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreportPart of the Education Policy Commons, and the Elementary Education CommonsThis Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Office for Education Policy at ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusionin Arkansas Education Reports by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact scholar@uark.edu,ccmiddle@uark.edu.Recommended CitationReid, Charlene A. and McKenzie, Sarah C., "High-Growth Elementary Schools in Arkansas Based on Performance on the ACT AspireExaminations" (2018). Arkansas Education Reports. 62.https://scholarworks.uark.edu/oepreport/62     ARKANSAS EDUCATION REPORT Volume 16, Issue 4    OUTSTANDING EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE AWARDS:  HIGHLIGHTING HIGH-GROWTH ARKANSAS SCHOOLS, 2018   HIGH-GROWTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON PERFORMANCE ON THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMINATIONS   November 07, 2018 By: Charlene A. Reid Sarah C. McKenzie   Office for Education Policy  University of Arkansas 211 Graduate Education Building Fayetteville, AR 72701 Phone: (479) 575-3773 Fax: (479) 575-3196 E-mail: oep@uark.edu    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2017  Page ii  TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 I. 2018 OEP Awards: High Growth Elementary Schools in Arkansas based on Content Growth in the ACT Aspire Exams ................................................................................................................... 2 A. Elementary School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 ............................................. 3 B. Elementary School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 ................................................ 7 C. Elementary School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 ............................................... 11 Appendix ...................................................................................................................................... A1   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 1  INTRODUCTION The mission of the Office for Education Policy is to examine educational issues through the lens of academic research and disseminate our findings to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders around Arkansas. Annually, we highlight excellent schools around the state in our Outstanding Educational Performance Awards, or the OEP awards.  This edition of the OEP Awards highlights schools in Arkansas based on student growth on the ACT Aspire exams in Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA). This is a departure from prior awards, which were based on student proficiency.  We choose to focus on student growth for these OEP awards because we think it is a better reflection than proficiency rates of how the school is impacting students. Growth is calculated at the student level, and essentially reflects how much a student improved his or her score from the prior year compared to what was predicted based on prior achievement history. Proficiency rates, even those that move beyond the ‘percent proficient’ like our OEP GPA and Arkansas’ weighted achievement score, are more correlated with student demographics than growth scores. This means that schools can demonstrate high student growth regardless of the characteristics of the students that they serve.   In the 2017-18 academic year, ACT Aspire examinations were administered to students in grades 3 through 10 in Math, Reading, Writing, English and Science. For the purposes of this report, the scores obtained in Reading, Writing and English were combined to create a combined ELA score.  For the purposes of these awards, we are using the content-area growth calculated and reported by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). Note that we used only growth for math and English Language Arts, excluding the growth score for English Learner progress to English Language Proficiency). In addition, we identify the highest growth schools by school level as identified by the ADE under Arkansas’ ESSA Plan: Elementary, Middle, and High school level.  In this report, we present a list of the top 20 schools in the state for Overall growth (average of Math and ELA growth), Math growth, and ELA growth. In some cases, these “top 20 lists” will contain more than 20 schools as some schools’ growth scores will be identical. This is not a new phenomenon, as we also exceeded 20 schools in previous reports when using the OEP GPA as an indicator for student achievement.   In the following weeks, we will focus on high-growth elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in the various regions across the state. We will conclude this edition of the report by highlighting schools that are beating the odds (that is, schools that have high levels of student growth while serving a high percentage of low-income students).   We are pleased to be able to highlight how students are growing academically in schools across the state, and hope the information will spark discussion among stakeholders about how to ensure all schools are growing the knowledge of Arkansas students.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 2  I. 2018 OEP AWARDS: HIGH GROWTH ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN ARKANSAS BASED ON CONTENT GROWTH IN THE ACT ASPIRE EXAMS 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.  Each table in this section presents the Top 20 schools for the noted subject area and school level. In addition, these tables include the region in which the schools are located, the grades served at the school the content growth score in that particular subject.  The level of the schools, namely Elementary, Middle, and High, have been based on the school allocation given through the My School Info portal of the Arkansas Department of Education website.     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 3  A. Elementary School Overall ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 Table 1: Top 20 Elementary Schools in Arkansas based on Overall ACT Aspire Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Overall Content Growth 1 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) NW K-4 90.55 2 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) NW K-5 90.20 3 Greenbrier Springhill Elementary (Greenbrier) CN K-5 89.61 4 Crawford Elementary (Russellville) NW K-4 89.16 5 Greenbrier Wooster Elementary (Greenbrier) CN K-5 88.63 6 Salem Elementary (Salem) NE K-6 88.52 7 Sequoyah Elementary (Russellville) NW K-4 87.51 8 Bismarck Elementary (Bismarck) CN K-4 87.47 9 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) SW K-6 87.41 10 Parson Hills Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 87.20 11 John Tyson Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 87.17 12 Cross County Elementary Tech Academy (Cross County) NE K-6 87.15 13 Genoa Central Elementary (Genoa Central) SW K-4 87.12 14 Des Arc Elementary (Des Arc) SE P-6 87.06 15 Monitor Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 87.05 16 Eastside Elementary (Cabot) CN K-4 86.82 17 Sonora Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 86.68 18 Cavanaugh Elementary (Fort Smith) NW P-6 86.64 18 Hunt Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 86.64 20 Pottsville Elementary (Pottsville) NW K-3 86.54     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 4  Tables 2-6: Top 5 Elementary Schools in Arkansas by Region, Overall Growth  Table 2: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) K-4 130 90.55 2 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) K-5 145 90.20 3 Crawford Elementary (Russellville) K-4 125 89.16 4 Sequoyah Elementary (Russellville) K-4 216 87.51 5 Parson Hills Elementary (Springdale) K-5 241 87.20   Table 3: Top 5 schools in the Northeast Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Salem Elementary (Salem) K-6 245 88.52 2 Cross County Elementary Tech Academy (Cross County) K-6 158 87.15 3 Sidney Deener Elementary (Searcy) K-3 89 85.75 4 Westside Elementary (Searcy) K-3 127 84.86 5 Woodrow Wilson Elementary (Paragould) 2-4 140 84.79    Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 5   Table 4: Top 5 schools in the Central Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Greenbrier Springhill Elementary (Greenbrier) K-5 187 89.61 2 Greenbrier Wooster Elementary (Greenbrier) K-5 173 88.63 3 Bismarck Elementary (Bismarck) K-4 134 87.47 4 Eastside Elementary (Cabot) K-4 177 86.82 5 Don Roberts Elementary (Little Rock) P-5 444 86.37 5 Crestwood Elementary (North Little Rock) K-5 231 86.37   Table 5: Top 5 schools in the Southwest Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) K-6 138 87.41 2 Genoa Central Elementary (Genoa Central) K-4 154 87.12 3 College Hill Elementary (Texarkana) K-4 107 85.88 3 Vera Kilpatrick Elementary (Texarkana) K-4 134 85.88 5 DeQueen Elementary (DeQueen) 3-5 566 85.51 5 DeQueen Primary (DeQueen) K-2 566 85.51      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 6  Table 6: Top 5 schools in the Southeast Region based on Overall Elementary ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Overall Content Growth 1 Des Arc Elementary (Des Arc) P-6 157 87.06 2 Hermitage Elementary (Hermitage) P-6 131 83.76 3 Rison Elementary (Cleveland County) K-5 142 82.02 4 Eastside Elementary (Warren) K-3 104 81.02 5 Brunson New Vision Charter (Warren) 4-5 246 80.45     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 7  B. Elementary School Math ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 Table 7: Top 10 Elementary Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire Math Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served Math Content Growth 1 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) NW K-5 93.65 2 Monitor Elementary (Springdale) NW K-5 90.85 3 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) NW K-4 89.80 3 Genoa Central Elementary (Genoa Central) SW K-4 89.80 3 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) SW K-6 89.80 6 Bismarck Elementary (Bismarck) CN K-4 89.45 6 Don Roberts Elementary (Little Rock) CN P-5 89.45 6 Greenbrier Springhill Elementary (Greenbrier) CN K-5 89.45 6 Salem Elementary (Salem) NE K-6 89.45 10 Chenal Elementary (Pulaski County Special) CN K-5 89.10 10 Crawford Elementary (Russellville) NW K-4 89.10 10 Cross County Elementary Tech Academy (Cross County) NE K-6 89.10 10 Des Arc Elementary (Des Arc) SE P-6 89.10 10 Vera Kilpatrick Elementary (Texarkana) SW K-4 89.10     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 8  Tables 8-12: Top 5 Elementary Schools in Arkansas by Region, Math Growth  Table 8: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 City Heights Elementary (Van Buren) K-5 144 93.65 2 Monitor Elementary(Springdale) K-5 290 90.85 3 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) K-4 130 89.80 4 Crawford Elementary (Russellville) K-4 125 89.10 5 John Tyson Elementary (Springdale) K-5 236 88.75 5 Pottsville Elementary (Pottsville) K-3 131 88.75   Table 9: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Salem Elementary (Salem) K-6 245 89.45 2 Cross County Elementary Tech Academy (Cross County) K-6 158 89.10 3 Izard Co. Cons. Elementary (Izard County Consolidated) K-4 58 86.30 4 Central Elementary (Batesville) K-6 195 85.25 5 Melbourne Elementary (Melbourne) K-6 247 84.90 5 Southside Middle (Southside (Independence)) 4-6 400 84.90     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 9  Table 10: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Greenbrier Springhill Elementary (Greenbrier) K-5 187 89.45 1 Bismarck Elementary (Bismarck) K-4 134 89.45 1 Don Roberts Elementary (Little Rock) P-5 444 89.45 4 Chenal Elementary (Pulaski County Special) K-5 236 89.10 5 Eastside Elementary (Cabot) K-4 177 88.40   Table 11: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) K-6 138 89.80 1 Genoa Central Elementary (Genoa Central) K-4 154 89.80 3 Vera Kilpatrick Elementary (Texarkana) K-4 134 89.10 4 College Hill Elementary (Texarkana) K-4 107 86.30 5 DeQueen Elementary (DeQueen) 3-5 566 85.95 5 DeQueen Primary(DeQueen) K-2 566 85.95     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 10  Table 12: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Elementary Math ACT Aspire Growth   School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers Math Content Growth 1 Des Arc Elementary (Des Arc) P-6 157 89.10 2 Hermitage Elementary (Hermitage) P-6 131 83.85 3 Brunson New Vision Charter (Warren) 4-5 246 82.45 4 Barton Elementary (Barton-Lexa) K-6 220 81.75 5 Rison Elementary (Cleveland County) K-5 142 81.05     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 11  C. Elementary School ELA ACT Aspire Growth Scores, 2018 Table 13: Top 10 Elementary Schools in Arkansas based on ACT Aspire ELA Growth  School (District) Region Grades Served ELA Content Growth 1 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) NW K-4 91.20 2 Green Forest Elementary (Green Forest) NW P-3 89.80 2 Greenbrier Springhill Elementary (Greenbrier) CN K-5 89.80 4 Cavanaugh Elementary (Fort Smith) NW P-6 89.45 5 Crawford Elementary (Russellville) NW K-4 89.10 5 Greenbrier Wooster Elementary(Greenbrier) CN K-5 89.10 7 Bonnie Grimes Elementary (Rogers) NW K-5 88.05 7 Crestwood Elementary (North Little Rock) CN K-5 88.05 9 Salem Elementary (Salem) NE K-6 87.70 9 Sidney Deener Elementary (Searcy) NE K-3 87.70 9 Sutton Elementary (Fort Smith) NW P-6 87.70     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 12  Tables 14-18: Top 5 Elementary Schools in Arkansas by Region, ELA Growth  Table 14: Top 5 schools in Northwest Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Center Valley Elementary (Russellville) K-4 130 91.20 2 Green Forest Elementary (Green Forest) P-3 84 89.80 3 Cavanaugh Elementary (Fort Smith) P-6 154 89.45 4 Crawford Elementary (Russellville) K-4 123 89.10 5 Bonnie Grimes Elementary (Rogers) K-5 215 88.05   Table 15: Top 5 schools in Northeast Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Salem Elementary (Salem) K-6 245 87.70 1 Sidney Deener Elementary (Searcy) K-3 89 87.70 3 Westside Elementary (Searcy) K-3 127 87.35 4 Weiner Elementary(Harrisburg) K-6 59 86.65 5 Woodrow Wilson Elementary (Paragould) 2-4 139 86.30     Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 13  Table 16: Top 5 schools in Central Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Greenbrier Springhill Elementary (Greenbrier) K-5 187 89.80 2 Greenbrier Wooster Elementary (Greenbrier) K-5 173 89.10 3 Crestwood Elementary (North Little Rock) K-5 230 88.05 4 Meadow Park Elementary (North Little Rock) P-5 209 87.35 5 Springhill Elementary (Bryant) K-5 301 86.65   Table 17: Top 5 schools in Southwest Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 College Hill Elementary (Texarkana) K-4 107 85.25 1 Oscar Hamilton Elementary (Foreman) K-6 138 85.25 3 DeQueen Elementary (DeQueen) 3-5 565 84.90 3 DeQueen Primary(DeQueen) K-2 565 84.90 5 Genoa Central Elementary (Genoa Central) K-4 154 84.20      Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page 14  Table 18: Top 5 schools in Southeast Region based on Elementary ELA ACT Aspire Growth    School (District) Grades Served # of Test Takers ELA Content Growth 1 Des Arc Elementary (Des Arc) P-6 157 84.90 2 Hermitage Elementary (Hermitage) P-6 131 83.50 3 Rison Elementary (Cleveland County) K-5 142 82.80 4 Gillett Elementary (Dewitt) P-5 36 82.10 5 Eastside Elementary (Warren) K-3 104 81.75   Outstanding Educational Performance Awards 2018 Page A1  APPENDIX A. Methods  All data used in this report were obtained from the Arkansas Department of Education via the link https://myschoolinfo.arkansas.gov/Plus/Schools.  We generated a statewide report for the 2017-18 school year, using the ESSA School Index report. Values included  • Grade Range • Grade Span (School Level) • Poverty Rate • Combined Content Growth Score Current Year • Combined Math Growth Score Current Year • Combined ELA Growth Score Current Year   For more information about how school levels were assigned, see http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/Grade_Spans_and_Grade_Configurations_rv.pdf  For more information about how growth values were calculated, see  http://www.arkansased.gov/public/userfiles/ESEA/Documents_to_Share/School%20Growth%20Explanation%20for%20ES%20and%20DC%20111017.pdf  

https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1064&context=oepreport

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

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