The bulletin board for America's public schools. Parents, teachers, students, and staff. One community per school.
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PALESTINE WHEATLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 050005100832

PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

7950 HWY. 70 WEST, PALESTINE, AR 72372 · (870) 581-2588 · St. Francis County
GRADES PK–06ELEMENTARY42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL448 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 45% of Arkansas public elementary schools
  • CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
  • BBeats 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 elementary schools

Enrollment
448
Elementary
DISTRICT 413 · STATE 418
Student : Teacher
15.0:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 10.0:1 · STATE 16.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
99%
445 students
DISTRICT 99% · STATE 70%
Community
6
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.

Enrollment by grade, 2024-25

GradeStudentsShare
Pre-K307%
Kindergarten5613%
Grade 14510%
Grade 25212%
Grade 37417%
Grade 45913%
Grade 56414%
Grade 66815%

This year's kindergarten class (56) is 18% smaller than its 6th grade class (68).

Student demographics
26%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 27% · STATE 61% · US 70%
White
38385%
DISTRICT 85% · STATE 57% · US 43%
Hispanic
143%
DISTRICT 3% · STATE 15% · US 30%
Black
378%
DISTRICT 10% · STATE 19% · US 15%
Asian
72%
DISTRICT 1% · STATE 2% · US 6%
Two+
72%
DISTRICT 1% · STATE 5% · US 5%
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
Male
23051%
Female
21849%

School pathway

Students here typically continue to
PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL→PALESTINE-WHEATLEY SENIOR HIGH
Based on grade levels within PALESTINE WHEATLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.

Discussions

+ POST

Test scores

ATLAS 2024-25 . % Proficient (Level 3+4)
English Language Arts
28.7%
AR avg 34.9% . +0.8pp since 2023
Math
31.8%
AR avg 38.9% . +1.6pp since 2023

What this means: On the ATLAS, Arkansas's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 32 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Arkansas schools, those numbers are about 35 and 39. Reading and writing scores have held steady since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.

ATLAS results by year

School yearEnglish Language ArtsMath
2024-2528.7%31.8%
2023-2427.9%30.2%
% 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 · methodology
Tier
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 PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL's state test result (29.8% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.

SchoolStudentsLow-incomeProficient
PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL this school44899.3%29.8%
PARIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
PARIS
416100.0%43.4%
CROSS COUNTY ELEMENTARY TECH ACADEMY
CHERRY VALLEY
415100.0%39.5%
HARRISBURG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
HARRISBURG
42899.3%32.9%
HACKETT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
HACKETT
474100.0%27.3%
MURFREESBORO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
MURFREESBORO
38399.2%39.7%
Matched among Arkansas elementary 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 PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ranks

Among elementary schools
MeasureThis schoolIn Arkansas
State test proficiency
ranked highest first
29.8%#300 of 461
Math proficiency
ranked highest first
31.8%#288 of 465
▲ 1
Reading proficiency
ranked highest first
28.7%#306 of 465
▲ 13
Enrollment
ranked largest first
448#215 of 531
Students per teacher
ranked fewest first
15.0:1#127 of 480
Diversity index
ranked most diverse first
26.1%#352 of 480
Free and reduced lunch
ranked highest share first
99.3%#96 of 513
Enrollment change since 2017-18
ranked steepest decline first
-3.2%#283 of 311
Ranked against other public elementary 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 2024-25
Enrollment
448
-13 (-3%) vs 2020
+129% since 1990-91, when it was 196
Student : Teacher
15.0:1
was 17.1:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Enrollment and staffing by year

School yearStudentsTeachers (FTE)Students per teacherFree and reduced lunch
2024-2544829.915.0:199% (445)
2023-2445927.117.0:199% (456)
2022-2342625.716.6:199% (423)
2020-214612717.1:1100% (461)
2017-1846326.517.4:144% (206)
2015-164072814.5:199% (404)
2010-112701419.3:199% (267)
2000-01263832.9:150% (132)
1990-911961216.3:1N/A
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

About PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

In PALESTINE, Arkansas, part of St. Francis County, PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is an elementary school. The school counted 448 students in 2024-25, covering pre-K through 6.

PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one school in a 2-school district, PALESTINE WHEATLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT, which enrolls 826 students.

At PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 85% of students are White. It is also 8% Black and 3% Hispanic. For comparison, the population of St. Francis County is roughly 41% White. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL scores 26%.

PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has 29.9 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of about 15.0:1. Elementary schools in Arkansas average 16.0:1, 1.0 more students per teacher than here. A common income measure, free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, is 99% at PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. The average for public schools in St. Francis County is similar, at 100%.

On the allk12 Grade, PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL lands at B-, ahead of 45% of Arkansas public elementary schools.

PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL posts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 29.8%, compared with a predicted 22.9%. It is not in the top or bottom 10% of Arkansas schools on BeatsExpectations.

In St. Francis County, the median household earns about $42,574 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 14%, and about 24% of people live in poverty. St. Francis County has 8 public schools with about 2,904 students, including PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, PALESTINE-WHEATLEY SENIOR HIGH, is about 0.8 miles. Within ten miles are 6 other public schools. PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is 2nd of 8 nearby schools by average proficiency rate.

The NCES locale for PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is Rural: Distant, which covers schools in rural territory some distance from an urban area.

Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL had a net loss of 13 students, or 3%. The number of students per teacher dropped from 17.1 to 15.0 over 4 years.

The allk12 page for PALESTINE-WHEATLEY 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.

St. Francis County at a glance

View full county profile
Population
22,400
Census ACS
Median income
$42,574
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
14%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
24%
Below federal line
Schools in county
8
2,904 students

Quick facts

School name
PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
District
PALESTINE WHEATLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Address
7950 HWY. 70 WEST, PALESTINE, AR 72372
Phone
(870) 581-2588
County
St. Francis County
Level
Elementary
Grade range
PK–06
Total enrollment
448
Teachers (FTE)
30
Student–teacher ratio
15.0:1
Free and reduced lunch
445 (99%)
Locale
42-Rural: Distant
NCES ID
050005100832
Charter school
No
Virtual school
No

Related schools

Other schools in PALESTINE WHEATLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Other schools in PALESTINE
Nearby schools

Frequently asked questions

About PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
How many students attend PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL enrolls approximately 448 students in grades PK-06.
What age range does PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL serve?
PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL serves students from grade PK through grade 06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
The student-to-teacher ratio at PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is approximately 15.0:1 (30 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?
At PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 85% White, 3% Hispanic, 8% Black, 2% Asian, 2% Two or more.
Is PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL public or private?
PALESTINE-WHEATLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is a public K-12 school, overseen by PALESTINE WHEATLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.
+ Post