district-spotlight
West Memphis: From 22% Chronic Absence to 5% in a Delta District
West Memphis cut chronic absenteeism from 22% to 5% in five years, while Arkansas's statewide rate climbed to a record 27.7%.
Arkansas Education News & Data
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chronic-absenteeism
19 Arkansas Districts Defied Two Years of Rising Absence
Only 19 of 240 Arkansas districts improved chronic absenteeism in two consecutive years. They span every geography and every size. Here's what they share.
graduation-rate
Arkansas Is Graduating 89 Percent of Its Students. That Puts It Above the National Average.
Arkansas graduates 89% of students, 2 points above the national average, with gains across every racial subgroup since 2016.
district-spotlight
Magazine's Year-Round Calendar and a 27-Point Drop in Chronic Absence
Magazine School District adopted a continuous calendar before COVID and has since recovered faster than nearly any district in Arkansas, cutting chronic absence from 36% to 9%.
district-spotlight
Pine Bluff's Second Act: Under State Control, the District Cut Chronic Absence in Half
Pine Bluff was taken over by the state for failing schools. Under new leadership, the district has cut chronic absenteeism from 19% to 11% and won back local control.
chronic-absenteeism
Only 13% Improved: The 30 Districts That Bucked Arkansas's Worst Attendance Year
In 2023-24, Arkansas hit a record 27.7% chronic absence rate and 87% of districts got worse. These 30 districts went the other direction.
district-spotlight
Little Rock Cut Chronic Absence to 6.7% While Adding 1,800 Students
Arkansas's state capital district pulled off a rare feat: growing enrollment by 81% while slashing chronic absenteeism from 28% to under 7% in two years.
enrollment
95 Districts at Record Lows, 22 at Highs: Arkansas Splits in Two
More than a third of Arkansas districts are at their lowest enrollment since 2005, while growth concentrates in NWA suburbs and charter schools.
district-spotlight
Bryant Went from 94% White to 50% While Growing
Bryant School District's white enrollment share fell 44 percentage points in 21 years, but total enrollment grew 43%. It is the largest growth-driven demographic shift in Arkansas.
demographics
One in 18 Arkansas Students Now Identifies as Multiracial
Multiracial enrollment grew 408% since 2010, making two-or-more-races the fastest-growing demographic group in Arkansas schools by a wide margin.
enrollment
144 Districts Under 1,000 Students, Serving Less Than a Fifth of Arkansas
More than half of Arkansas's 259 school districts enroll fewer than 1,000 students, but together they educate only 17.7% of the state's children.
district-spotlight
Bentonville Passes Little Rock as Arkansas's No. 2 District
Fueled by Walmart's economic engine, Bentonville has doubled in size since 2005 while Little Rock lost a quarter of its students. The crossover happened last year.
special-populations
One in Seven Springdale Students Is Pacific Islander
Springdale enrolls 2,922 Pacific Islander students, 13.9% of its total and 56.8% of all PI students in Arkansas, driven by the largest Marshallese diaspora community in the continental US.
school-choice
One in 40 Arkansas Students Now Attends School Online
Arkansas's two virtual schools enrolled 11,559 students in 2025-26, nearly tripling since 2020 and capturing 42% of all enrollment growth statewide.
enrollment
NWA Now Educates 1 in 7 Arkansas Students
Four Northwest Arkansas districts grew from 9.8% to 14.2% of state enrollment since 2005, gaining 21,488 students while the Delta lost nearly as many.
