Rogers does well with at-risk students, Elkins has an extremely high graduation rate and Gravette is great in biology.
Those are just a few of the observations to take away from the 2014 Northwest Arkansas Report Card, a 32-page overview of how public schools in Benton and Washington counties are performing. The report card is produced annually by the Office for Education Policy, part of the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas.
Numbers to know
Here are some numbers regarding the 15 school districts in Benton and Washington counties:
7: High schools in the region ranked in the top 10 percent in the nation by U.S. News & World Report
52: Percentage of students participating in the free and reduced lunch program
4,649: Average school district enrollment
5,262: Certified teachers employed
$9,056: K-12 per pupil spending
Source: 2014 Northwest Arkansas Report Card
The report card, released to the public Monday, presents data related to test scores, student demographics and per-pupil spending for each of the 15 school districts and the three open-enrollment charter schools; it also shows how those schools measure up to others in the state and the nation.
The report card is available online at www.OfficeForEducationPolicy.org.
One of the Office for Education Policy's goals is to share education-related data with all sorts of stakeholders, said Sarah McKenzie, executive director. Those stakeholders include parents and policy makers, as well as philanthropic groups looking for places to implement certain programs. But the report card also can be useful to the school districts themselves, McKenzie said.
"A lot of times districts are really familiar with their own data but don't have the time to get that much information about how surrounding districts are doing," she said.
Northwest Arkansas students lead the state in academic performance on state assessments and demonstrate they have a better grasp of reading and math than many of their peers across the nation, the report card states.
The most recent graduation rates available show Arkansas' rate of 85 percent was better than the national rate of 81 percent. Northwest Arkansas was even higher at 86 percent.
But there is still room for improvement in Northwest Arkansas schools, according to the report. Graduation rates and academic performance must continue to improve, and innovative methods of teaching are needed to ensure all students are prepared for life after graduation, the report states.
The report card was produced with help from the Northwest Arkansas Council, which made a financial contribution, said Rob Smith, the council's communications and policy director. The council looks at the report card as a valuable tool for attracting people to the region, showing not just the quality but variety of schools available, he said.
"We have small districts, large districts, conversion charters," Smith said. "There's a little bit of something for everyone in terms of education."
If the report card inspires more competitiveness among the local school districts because of how they are compared against each other, that's fine with the council, Smith said.
"Whatever we got to do to make all schools better, that's great for Northwest Arkansas," he said.
Dave Perozek can be reached at dperozek@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWADaveP.
NW News on 03/24/2015