The Arkansas Department of Education recently released letter grades for public schools across the state.
Once again, Eureka Springs is leading the way for area districts in grade recognition.
The ADE recently released the official 20242025 school letter grades, marking the first year of full implementation under Arkansas’ updated accountability formula.
The accountability formula is designed to provide a clearer and more meaningful picture of how Arkansas schools support student achievement and year-to-year growth, and ensures that graduates are prepared to be enlisted, enrolled or employed, according to information provided by the Arkansas Department of Education.
Eureka Springs School District received the only A letter grades among schools in Carroll County, with Eureka Springs’ high school and elementary school each receiving one of 122 top letter grades across the state.
Eureka Springs Middle School meanwhile, received a C letter grade, but is appealing the designation to be bumped up to a B grade.
“LEARNS is all about improving the way we educate kids in Arkansas, and our new letter grade formula, alongside the new ATLAS exam, allows us to do that with a better, more full picture of where each of our students and schools stand,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee- Sanders said in an ADE news release. “We never want to settle until every child in Arkansas has a pathway to success and with this additional information and the new resources now available through the LEARNS Act, we are creating opportunities to help every student across the state.”
ADE Secretary Jacob Oliva added in the release: “These results offer consistent, comparable measures that schools can use to celebrate progress and plan targeted improvements. Our focus remains on ensuring every Arkansas student learns and grows each year.”
Letter grades are based on a series of categories, according to the ADE website. Achievement (percent proficient in English Language Arts, math and science), growth of all students from previous year’s testing results (percentage growth in English Language Arts, math and science), and growth of lowest quarter of students who are furthest behind their peers (percent who met growth target) are used for grades K-8 while “success ready graduate” is an added category for high school students.
Across the state, 122 schools received A letter grades, 291 schools had a B letter grade, 352 had a C, 137 were graded D and 130 received an F grade.
“Last year, ADE provided districts with simulated grades based on the first administration of the ATLAS assessment so schools could review and understand how the new formula works before official grades were issued,” according to the ADE.
Eureka Springs superintendent Bryan Pruitt said the middle school grade dropped from an A to a C according to the ADE, but he’s appealed that decision after the district analyzed the data.
“I had our director of programs look through the data and there was some conflicting results there,” Pruitt said. “Not big differences, but some, so we appealed the middle school grade.”
There were some things noticed, however, that show some deficiencies that are being addressed with the middle school students, the superintendent said.
“With the data that’s available for us to dig into for us to observe and analyze, it clearly shows where we had some issues,” Pruitt said. “We’ve already jumped on that and went to work on it.”
It’s unfortunate that schools are judged in totality by a letter grade that only reflects student testing for one week each April, Pruitt said.
“Yeah, it’s kind of a complex deal on the letter grades,” he said. “It is how we’re labeled and that’s how we are judged. That’s unfortunate because that’s not the most important thing we do here.
“We want to educate all kids, but we also want to take care of them. There’s a lot of things we do with our kids to make them be successful, but the letter grade is how we’re judged. It’s important when people look at our school district that we have our standards high and have high expectations for our students and staff. That also includes me.”
The bar was set high a year ago when all three schools in the district had A’s, Pruitt said.
“I talked to our board earlier and I told them last year we had three A’s, and it’s almost scary because a lot of people don’t know how difficult and how complex it is to get an A and then to keep it.”
Which is just what the district’s elementary and high school did.
“Yeah, we’re really proud of those A’s,” Pruitt said. “It just shows an example of hard work and commitment of the students, the parents getting them ready every day and encouraging them, and then for our staff for the high quality instruction and using high-quality materials. It’s complete teamwork.
“All the cores, and then the support of the other instruction, all pulls together to make that happen. And so it is rewarding. As a teacher, you know it makes them feel good to know that they’ve helped kids to better prepare themselves for the next step.”
