Today we are releasing the second installment of our Outstanding Education Performance Awards: High-Achieving Elementary Schools By Grade Level and Region. These awards are based on the April 2014 Benchmark exam scores for students in grades 3-5.

This particular report is divided into two main sections:

• The first section identifies the top 10 elementary schools in Arkansas by achievement in mathematics and literacy for grades 3, 4, and 5. (The top schools in grades 6, 7, and 8 will be released in our next installment.)
• The second section of the report identifies the top 5 elementary schools by Benchmark performance in mathematics and literacy in each region of the state (Northwest, Northeast, Central, Southwest, and Southeast). It also includes the top 3 elementary schools for grades 3, 4, and 5 in each region of the state.

The high-achieving elementary schools were recognized based on the GPA of the school in each subject. The OEP calculates a GPA on the basis of the percentage of students that perform at each performance level on the Benchmark exam (advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic).  You can read more about our GPA measure here.

In this report, there are many schools that are full of hard-working students, teachers, and administrators. We would like to highlight just a few of these schools here:

• In the Northwest region, Skyline Heights Elementary School (Harrison School District) received awards for math and literacy; Skyline Heights also received the top spot in grade 3 in both subjects.

• In the Northeast region, Mount Pleasant Elementary School (Melbourne School District) took the top spot on both the math and literacy lists, as well as the top spots in grades 4 and 5 in both subjects. Richland Elementary School (West Memphis School District), Salem Elementary School (Salem School District), and Brookland Elementary School (Brookland School District) all received awards in math and literacy for the Northeast region.

• In the Central region, Park Magnet School (Hot Springs School District) received the top award for math and literacy, as well as the top spot in grades 3 and 4 in literacy for the region.

• In the Southwest region, Genoa Central Elementary School (Genoa Central School District) earned the top spot in math and literacy. Spring Hill Elementary School (Spring Hill School District) and De Queen Elementary (De Queen School District) were also in the top 5 for both math and literacy.

• In the Southeast region, Gillet Elementary School (DeWitt School District) and Des Arc Elementary School (Des Arc) received the top two spots (respectively) on both the math and literacy award lists.

If you want to see how your school performed, check out the OEP databases on our website. Every year, we release searchable databases by school and district overall and at each grade level (the databases go as far back as 2004-05). In the databases, there are demographic indicators for schools and districts, and you also can search and filter schools and districts by region.

We would like to extend congratulations to all of the high-achieving elementary schools in Arkansas based on performance on the Benchmark Exams! Stay tuned for our next installment of the OEP Awards, where we will highlight high-achieving middle schools by grade level (grades 6, 7, and 8) and by region!