By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Five area schools have been named to the state’s top 25 list by the University of Arkansas.
Little Rock Air Force Base’s Arnold Drive and Cabot’s Stagecoach made the list of top elementary schools.
Cabot Middle School South, along with Searcy’s Ahlf Junior High and Southwest Middle School, are among the top middle schools in the state.
The university’s Office of Educational Policy ranked the schools based on the results of the 2011-2012 Benchmark test scores.
The university ranked schools based on the percentage of students who scored proficient or advanced, and on “GPA” — which breaks down the proficient and advanced scores even further.
On the GPA scale, each test score category is assigned a grade point: Below basic scores received a one, basic scores were awarded a two; proficient scores were given a three and advanced was worth four. The best score a school could get would be a GPA of 4 if all students scored advanced.
Arnold Drive was ranked as the 16th best elementary school in the state with 95 percent of its third, fourth and fifth graders scoring proficient or advanced on the Benchmark exam. The school had a GPA of 3.71. The best school in the state, Melbourne’s Mount Pleasant, had a GPA of 3.89.
Cabot’s Stagecoach is the 21st best elementary school in the state with 94 percent of its third, fourth and fifth graders scoring proficient or advanced. The school had a GPA of 3.68.
Ahlf Junior High in Searcy is ranked this year as the 14th best middle school in the state. Its students were 89 percent proficient or advanced on the Benchmark and had a GPA of 3.43.
Cabot’s Middle School South was listed as the 15th best middle school with the same numbers as Ahlf, 89 percent proficient or advanced and a GPA of 3.43.
Southwest Middle School in Searcy is the 21st best school with 87 percent scoring proficient or advanced on the Benchmark and a GPA of 3.41.
The rankings are based on school performances on both the literacy and math Benchmark scores.
The university also looked at state rankings based just on math scores and just the literacy exam.
The top elementary math school in the area is Stage-coach, ranked 10th in the state at 97 percent proficient or better and a GPA of 3.75. Of the 505 elementary schools ranked, the average was 82 percent and the average GPA was 3.27.
Among middle schools in math, Cabot Middle School North is 19th in the state with 86 percent proficient or better and a GPA of 3.39. Cabot Middle School South and Ahlf Junior High are tied for 20th at 87 percent and a GPA of 3.38.
Of the 355 middle schools researched, the average GPA was 3.01 and the average percent of students scoring proficient or better was 72 percent.
Looking at just literacy scores, Arnold Drive is the 11th best in the state with 95 percent of its third, fourth and fifth grade students scoring proficient or better and a GPA of 3.75.
The statewide average was 83 percent with a GPA of 3.30.
At the middle school level in literacy, Cabot Middle School South is the 13th best tied with Searcy’s Southwest Middle both at 91 percent and a GPA of 3.48. At 16th best in literacy is Ahlf Junior High at 91 percent proficient or better and a GPA of 3.47.
Statewide, the average was 80 percent and a GPA of 3.17.
The university has been delving into test scores since 2003, looking for trends and patterns to help other schools improve their test scores.
Among trends noticed are that higher performing schools tend to have fewer students on free and reduced lunch. The state average is around 65 percent, but the average of the top 25 schools is closer to 35 percent.
The top schools are also larger campuses than the state average and have a lower minority population. The statewide minority student population is about 35 percent, while the high performing schools are around 19 percent.
