Absence
The 33 Districts That Never Hit 20%: Arkansas's Attendance Floor
While Arkansas's statewide chronic absence rate lurched from 14% to 27%, 33 districts kept their rates below 20% in every single measured year — including the COVID spike.
Arkansas
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Arkansas, grounded in Arkansas Department of Education data.
Malvern's Quiet Consistency: Three Straight Years of Attendance Improvement
Malvern School District spiked to 34% chronic absence in the COVID era, then improved every year since, landing at 13.8% — below its pre-COVID rate and half the state average.
Asian Students in Arkansas Graduate at 96 Percent. No Other Racial Group Is Close.
Asian students in Arkansas reached a 96.3% graduation rate in 2024, gaining 5.4 points since 2016, the largest improvement of any racial group.
Alpena: A 3,000-Student District That Kept Improving After Everyone Else Stopped
Alpena cut chronic absenteeism from 26% to under 10% across two consecutive years while 87% of Arkansas districts got worse. The rural district now outperforms its own pre-COVID baseline.
70 Arkansas Districts Report Exactly 95 Percent Graduation Rates. None of Them Are Real.
Nearly 30% of Arkansas districts report exactly 95.0% graduation rates, a data suppression artifact that hides true performance.
More Coverage
Equity
Arkansas's Graduation Gap by Income Is 2.1 Points. In Most States, It Is Ten Times That.
Economically disadvantaged students in Arkansas graduate at 86.9%, just 2.1 points below the state average, one of the narrowest income gaps in the nation.
District Spotlight
Lincoln's Mentor Model: Every Student Has Someone Who Checks In
Lincoln School District pairs every student with a mentor and operates on a 4-day week. The data confirms it works: chronic absence is back to its pre-COVID level of 9.3%.
District Spotlight
Little Rock's Graduation Rate Climbed for a Third Year. Bryant Sets the Bar at 96 Percent.
Little Rock School District graduates 82.3% of students, up from 80.0% in 2022. Suburban Bryant, 20 minutes south, hits 96.2%.
District Spotlight
The Only District in Arkansas Where Attendance Has Improved Every Single Year
While 87% of Arkansas districts saw chronic absenteeism worsen in 2024, Hoxie cut its rate in half over five years — the only district to improve in every measured period.
Demographics
Arkansas's White-Black Graduation Gap Narrowed to 5.5 Points. Black Students Drove Most of the Closing.
The white-Black graduation gap in Arkansas shrank from 7.7 to 5.5 points over nine years, driven by Black students gaining 3.6 points.
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%.
Absence
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
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.
