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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
527
Middle
DISTRICT 510 · STATE 464
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MAGNOLIA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 050004400653
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
456 EAST NORTH STREET, MAGNOLIA, AR 71753 · (870) 234-4911 · Columbia County
GRADES 03–07MIDDLE33-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL527 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 44% of Arkansas public middle schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Arkansas public middle schools
Student : Teacher
16.4:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.6:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
523 students
DISTRICT 98% · STATE 70%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 181 | 34% |
| Grade 4 | 179 | 34% |
| Grade 5 | 165 | 31% |
| Grade 6 | 1 | 0% |
| Grade 7 | 1 | 0% |
Student demographics
59%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 59% · STATE 61% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within MAGNOLIA SCHOOL DISTRICT. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ATLAS 2024-25 . % Proficient (Level 3+4)English Language Arts
24.6%
AR avg 34.9% . -2.1pp since 2023
Math
35.1%
AR avg 38.9% . +1.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the ATLAS, Arkansas's statewide test, about 25 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 35 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Arkansas schools, those numbers are about 35 and 39. Reading and writing scores are down about 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
ATLAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 24.6% | 35.1% |
| 2023-24 | 26.7% | 33.2% |
% Proficient (Level 3+4), all students and all tested grades.
Source: ATLAS. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
29.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
22.9%
based on AR schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+6.9pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 30% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 23% typical for Arkansas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Arkansas's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's state test result (29.8% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL this school | 527 | 99.2% | 29.8% |
| MAGNOLIA MIDDLE SCHOOL MAGNOLIA | 492 | 98.4% | 28.8% |
| WEST JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL WEST MEMPHIS | 461 | 100.0% | 13.8% |
| ARKANSAS MIDDLE SCHOOL TEXARKANA | 842 | 100.0% | 20.6% |
| CAMDEN FAIRVIEW MIDDLE SCHOOL CAMDEN | 421 | 99.3% | 11.5% |
| NORTH LITTLE ROCK MIDDLE SCHOOL 6TH GRADE CAMPUS NORTH LITTLE ROCK | 548 | 100.0% | 18.1% |
Matched among Arkansas middle schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Arkansas |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 29.8% | #147 of 207 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 35.1% | #119 of 208 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 24.6% | #157 of 208 ▼ 12 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 527 | #84 of 217 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.4:1 | #152 of 188 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 59.1% | #44 of 188 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 99.2% | #42 of 210 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -16.7% | #38 of 114 |
Ranked against other public middle schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
527
-38 (-7%) vs 2020
-30% since 1990-91, when it was 749
Student : Teacher
16.4:1
was 13.8:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 527 | 32.1 | 16.4:1 | 99% (523) |
| 2023-24 | 545 | 33.6 | 16.2:1 | 77% (419) |
| 2022-23 | 538 | 33.8 | 15.9:1 | 67% (362) |
| 2020-21 | 565 | 41 | 13.8:1 | 74% (420) |
| 2017-18 | 633 | 49.1 | 12.9:1 | 30% (193) |
| 2015-16 | 637 | 47 | 13.6:1 | 71% (454) |
| 2010-11 | 645 | 44 | 14.7:1 | 71% (457) |
| 2000-01 | 695 | 35 | 19.9:1 | 48% (337) |
| 1990-91 | 749 | 37 | 20.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
About CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a mid-sized middle school in MAGNOLIA, Arkansas, one of the schools in MAGNOLIA SCHOOL DISTRICT. Total enrollment is 527 students, and the grades served are 3 through 7.
MAGNOLIA SCHOOL DISTRICT counts 2,505 students in its 5 schools, and CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of them.
More than half of enrollment at CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is Black: 54%. Other groups include 32% White, 6% Hispanic, and 6% multiracial. The county population is about 34% Black. The diversity index for CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is 59%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.4:1, with 32.1 full-time-equivalent teachers. Compared with the 13.9:1 average for middle schools in Arkansas, this school's ratio is higher. The school has 99% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Among public schools in Columbia County, the average eligibility rate is 82%.
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL earns a C+ on the allk12 Grade, which blends test scores, results against poverty-based expectations, and the three-year trend. It scored higher than 44% of Arkansas public middle schools.
The school's average proficiency rate across its state test results is 29.8%. For its free or reduced-price lunch share, the predicted value is 22.9%.
In Columbia County, where the school is located, median household income comes to about $55,334, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 22%, and roughly 17% of residents are in poverty. The county has 9 public schools and about 3,472 students.
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's closest public school neighbor is MAGNOLIA MIDDLE SCHOOL, about 0.1 miles away. A five-mile radius around the school includes 4 other public schools. Local comparison: CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks 4th of 7 nearby schools, at 29.8% versus a 35.8% average.
NCES describes the area around CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL as Town: Remote, meaning in a town far from an urbanized area.
A 7% decrease took enrollment from 565 in 2020-21 to 527 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 13.8:1 to 16.4:1.
The allk12 page for CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL lets the school community talk about pickup and drop-off, after-school programs, and teacher feedback. You can also rate the school on this page.
Columbia County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
22,349
Census ACS
Median income
$55,334
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
17%
Below federal line
Schools in county
9
3,472 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in MAGNOLIA SCHOOL DISTRICT
- MAGNOLIA HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 797 students
- EAST SIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 570 students
- MAGNOLIA MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 492 students
- WALKER PRE-K CENTERElementary · 119 students
Other schools in MAGNOLIA
- MAGNOLIA HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 797 students
- EAST SIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 570 students
- MAGNOLIA MIDDLE SCHOOLMiddle · 492 students
- WALKER PRE-K CENTERElementary · 119 students
Other Central Elementary schools
151 other US public schools in 35 states are named Central Elementary. CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is the 30th largest of the 152.
- CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLFORREST CITY, AR · 713 students
- CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLVAN BUREN, AR · 466 students
- CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLCABOT, AR · 394 students
- CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLDUMAS, AR · 221 students
- Central Elementary SchoolCarrollton, GA · 991 students
Nearby schools
- MAGNOLIA MIDDLE SCHOOL0.1 mi · 492
- EAST SIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL0.8 mi · 570
- MAGNOLIA HIGH SCHOOL1.0 mi · 797
- WALKER PRE-K CENTER3.1 mi · 119
- EMERSON HIGH SCHOOL12.0 mi · 136
- EMERSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL12.1 mi · 226
Frequently asked questions
About CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLHow many students attend CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL enrolls approximately 527 students in grades 03-07.
Is CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL an elementary, middle, or high school?
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a middle school covering grades 03-07.
How many teachers does CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL have?
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL employs 32 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.4:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
At CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 32% White, 6% Hispanic, 54% Black, 1% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in?
CENTRAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is part of MAGNOLIA SCHOOL DISTRICT.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.