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Today, OEP is thrilled to recognize Arkansas schools that are Beating the Odds!  The final installment of this year’s Outstanding Educational Performance awards, Beating the Odds award winners serve a population where at least 66% of students face economic challenges and where the students are demonstrating the highest levels of academic growth.  Because achievement on state assessments is generally negatively correlated with the percentage of students attending the school who face economic disadvantages outside of school, these “high-poverty” schools are doing CRITICALLY important work by helping students move toward and beyond grade level mastery.

Our Beating the Odds schools often do not get the recognition that they deserve. ESSA scores and subsequent letter grades include indicators that are negatively correlated with poverty.  Our Beating the Odds schools received letter grades ranging from A to F, even though they are all demonstrating high growth!  You can check out the info for all school in our updated Letter Grades dataset. Is important to recognize these schools that are helping their students who may be at-risk grow their learning at the highest rates.

OEP Beating the Odds awards for schools are based on the growth of elementary, middle, and high school students on the ACT Aspire Math and English Language Arts assessments.

Here at OEP, we choose to highlight student academic growth because we believe that it is the best reflection of the impact that a school is having on students’ academic success.

Beating the Odds Overall Growth: Elementary Level

The top elementary school Beating the Odds for overall student growth is Green Forest Elementary from Green Forest School District, with an overall growth score of 87.65. Green Forest Elementary also had the highest growth score in ELA at 91.54. John Tyson Elementary in Springdale School District claimed the top spot for growth in math at 88.34.

Beating the Odds Overall Growth: Middle Level

The top middle school for overall student growth is Forrest City Junior High, with an overall growth score of 84.66. Forrest City Junior High also had the highest growth score in ELA at 84.26. Atkins Middle School demonstrated the highest growth in math with a score of 86.35.

Beating the Odds Overall Growth: High School Level

The top high school for overall student growth is Rural Special High from Mountain View School District, with an overall growth score of 84.94. Rural Special also grabbed the top spot in math  at 87.73. Booneville High School had the highest growth in ELA at 85.28.

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Below we list the Top 10 Elementary, Middle/ Junior High, and High Schools that are Beating the Odds for 2023.  We include the percentage of students eligible for Free and Reduced-Price Lunch (% FRL) and the recently assigned school letter grades. *Asterisks indicate how many times the school has been in the top 10 Beating the Odds schools for overall growth in the prior 5 years of OEP awards.*

The 10 Beating the Odds elementary schools with the highest overall content growth are:

• Green Forest Elementary, Green Forest SD (83% FRL) Letter Grade: B*****
• John Tyson Elementary, Springdale SD (71% FRL) Letter Grade: A****
• S.C. Tucker Elementary, Danville SD (76% FRL) Letter Grade: A *
• Westside Elementary, Cabot SD (68% FRL) Letter Grade: B
• Asbell Elementary, Fayetteville SD (82% FRL) Letter Grade: C
• Oscar Hamilton Elementary, Foreman SD (77% FRL) Letter Grade: B ***
• Monitor Elementary, Springdale SD (82% FRL) Letter Grade: C *
• Lake Hamilton Elementary and Primary, Lake Hamilton SD (69% FRL) Letter Grade: B
• Hill Farm Elementary, Bryant SD (68% FRL) Letter Grade: C
• Linda Childers Knapp Elementary, Springdale SD (88% FRL) Letter Grade: C *

The 10 Beating the Odds middle/junior high schools with the highest overall content growth are:

• Forrest City Junior High, Forrest City SD (80% FRL) Letter Grade: D
• eStem Junior High, eStem Public Charter (68% FRL) Letter Grade: C
• Atkins Middle, Atkins SD (66% FRL) Letter Grade: B ***
• eStem East Village Junior High, eStem Public Charter (72% FRL) Letter Grade: C *
• LISA Academy Springdale, LISA Academy (66% FRL) Letter Grade: B
• KIPP Delta College Prep, KIPP Delta (92% FRL) Letter Grade: C *
• Hope Academy of Public Service, Hope SD (84% FRL) Letter Grade: B *
• Cave City Middle Career and Collegiate Preparatory, Cave City SD (83% FRL) Letter Grade: B *
• Highland Middle, Highland SD (72% FRL) Letter Grade: B *
• DeQueen Middle, DeQueen SD (86% FRL) Letter Grade: B *

The 10 Beating the Odds high schools with the highest overall content growth are:

• Rural Special High, Mountain View SD (67% FRL) Letter Grade: A
• Berryville High, Berryville SD (69% FRL) Letter Grade: C
• Decatur High, Decatur SD (71% FRL) Letter Grade: C **
• Cave City High Career and College Prep, Cave City SD (72% FRL) Letter Grade: B ***
• Booneville High, Booneville SD (67% FRL) Letter Grade: C *
• Dermott High, Dermott SD (94% FRL) Letter Grade: D
• Greenland High, Greenland SD (66% FRL) Letter Grade: C
• Oark High, Jasper SD (85% FRL) Letter Grade: C *
• Trumann High, Trumann SD (70% FRL) Letter Grade: D **
• Marshall High, Searcy County SD (70% FRL) Letter Grade: B

These schools, and others included in the full report, are growing student’s academic performance more than would be expected. Way to GROW!

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How do OEP awards differ from ADE’s Rewards and Recognition program?

We often get the question: “How do OEP awards differ from ADE’s Rewards and Recognition program?” Our awards differ in several ways:

1. No Money: While the ADE program provides monetary rewards to schools that are included, OEP awards (unfortunately) don’t come with any dollars, just the knowledge that your school is growing students’ learning at a faster rate than other schools across the state. Schools also get an electronic badge to place on their website, a printed award, and OEP PRIDE!

2. More context: We determine OEP awards by grade span (high-growth elementary, middle, and high schools), while ADE identifies reward schools among all schools in the state regardless of grades served.

3. Just Growth: OEP awards are based on the purest measure of academic growth (referred to as Combined Content Growth Score) which reflects only growth for Math and English Language Arts. Some ADE Rewards are based on achievement, which is highly correlated with poverty, and the rewards that are for growth awards include graduation rates for high schools (?). Historically, almost all elementary and high school level OEP growth award winners were identified as Reward schools, but only 20% of high growth middle schools were rewarded by the state program for their high growth.

4. More Specific: We give OEP awards for high growth overall as well as for Math and ELA growth individually, because we want to recognize all the bright spots in your schools!

Congratulations to all our OEP award winners: schools demonstrating Outstanding Educational Performance!