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What's the vibe like in the hallways at RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL right now?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
530
Middle
DISTRICT 672 · STATE 464
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BENTONVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 050306001139
RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL
500 SE 18TH STREET, BENTONVILLE, AR 72712 · (479) 696-3300 · Benton County
GRADES 05–06MIDDLE13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL530 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 92% of Arkansas public middle schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-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
19.1:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.0:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
30%
158 students
DISTRICT 20% · 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 5 | 270 | 51% |
| Grade 6 | 260 | 49% |
Student demographics
56%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 51% · 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
Test scores
ATLAS 2024-25 . % Proficient (Level 3+4)English Language Arts
54.6%
AR avg 34.9% . +2.6pp since 2023
Math
60.4%
AR avg 38.9% . -5.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the ATLAS, Arkansas's statewide test, about 55 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 60 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Arkansas schools, those numbers are about 35 and 39. Reading and writing scores are up about 3 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 6 points.
ATLAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 54.6% | 60.4% |
| 2023-24 | 52.0% | 65.9% |
% 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
58.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.7%
based on AR schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+9.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 58% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 49% 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 RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL
RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL's state test result (58.0% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL this school | 530 | 29.8% | 58.0% |
| GRIMSLEY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL BENTONVILLE | 846 | 24.5% | 57.0% |
| LINCOLN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL BENTONVILLE | 723 | 20.1% | 68.3% |
| ARDIS ANN MIDDLE SCHOOL BENTONVILLE | 576 | 17.4% | 60.7% |
| MAUMELLE CHARTER MIDDLE SCHOOL MAUMELLE | 664 | 26.4% | 50.4% |
| VALLEY VIEW JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL JONESBORO | 699 | 30.9% | 51.1% |
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 RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Arkansas | In Benton County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 58.0% | #10 of 207 | #7 of 20 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 60.4% | #13 of 208 ▼ 7 | #7 of 20 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.6% | #9 of 208 ▲ 5 | #7 of 20 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 530 | #83 of 217 | #16 of 22 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.1:1 | #181 of 188 | #16 of 19 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 56.2% | #61 of 188 | #7 of 19 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 29.8% | #196 of 210 | #12 of 20 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +6.9% | #32 of 61 | #7 of 10 |
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
530
+18 (+4%) vs 2020
-32% since 2010-11, when it was 775
Student : Teacher
19.1:1
was 13.5:1
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 | 530 | 27.7 | 19.1:1 | 30% (158) |
| 2023-24 | 491 | 25.3 | 19.4:1 | 29% (142) |
| 2022-23 | 494 | 30.6 | 16.2:1 | 30% (148) |
| 2020-21 | 512 | 38 | 13.5:1 | 33% (167) |
| 2017-18 | 496 | 37.3 | 13.3:1 | 20% (98) |
| 2015-16 | 583 | 43 | 13.6:1 | 33% (193) |
| 2010-11 | 775 | 46 | 16.9:1 | 29% (228) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL.
About RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL
BENTONVILLE, Arkansas, is home to RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL, a mid-sized middle school. It is open to students in grades 5 through 6 and enrolls 530 students.
Across its 24 schools, BENTONVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT enrolls 19,575 students. RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL is one of those schools.
At RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL, 63% of students are White. Other students are 16% Hispanic, 7% Asian, 6% multiracial, and 4% Black. Census estimates put Benton County at about 60% White, close to the school's figure. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 56%.
The student-to-teacher ratio is 19.1:1. The school has 27.7 full-time-equivalent teachers. The gap from the 13.9:1 average for middle schools in Arkansas is 5.2 students per teacher. In all, 30% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Among Arkansas public middle schools, RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL outscored 92%, which works out to an A on the allk12 Grade.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL would score about 48.7%. It scores 58.0%, 9.3 points above that figure.
In Benton County, where the school is located, median household income comes to about $93,506, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 38%, and about 5% of people live in poverty. There are 88 public schools in the county, enrolling about 57,071, RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL among them.
About 0.3 miles separate RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL from the closest public school, THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL AT MARY MAE JONES. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Local comparison: RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks 5th of 7 nearby schools, at 58.0% versus a 63.2% average.
Locale data from NCES put RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL inside a principal city with a population under 100,000 (City: Small).
Enrollment increased 4% over 4 years, reaching 530 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio went up from 13.5:1 to 19.1:1.
Parents, students, and staff can share information on athletics, class schedules, and weather closures here. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Benton County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
303,632
Census ACS
Median income
$93,506
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
38%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
88
57,071 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in BENTONVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT
- BENTONVILLE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,579 students
- BENTONVILLE WEST HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,661 students
- GRIMSLEY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLMiddle · 846 students
- CENTERTON GAMBLE ELEMENTARYElementary · 725 students
- LINCOLN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLMiddle · 723 students
- J. WILLIAM FULBRIGHT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLMiddle · 718 students
Other schools in BENTONVILLE
- ARKANSAS CONNECTIONS ACADEMY HIGHCombined · 4,575 students
- BENTONVILLE HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 3,579 students
- BENTONVILLE WEST HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 2,661 students
- GRIMSLEY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLMiddle · 846 students
- LINCOLN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLMiddle · 723 students
- J. WILLIAM FULBRIGHT JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLMiddle · 718 students
Nearby schools
- THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL AT MARY MAE JONES0.3 mi · 567
- BENTONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL0.5 mi · 3,579
- HAAS HALL BENTONVILLE0.6 mi · 433
- FOUNDERS CLASSICAL ACADEMIES OF ARKANSAS BENTONVILLE1.5 mi · 787
- ISCHOOL VIRTUAL ACADEMY OF ARKANSAS1.5 mi · 16
- FOUNDERS CLASSICAL ACADEMY ELEMENTARY ONLINE1.5 mi · 14
Frequently asked questions
About RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOLHow many students attend RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL?
RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL enrolls approximately 530 students in grades 05-06.
Is RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL an elementary, middle, or high school?
RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL is a middle school covering grades 05-06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL?
The student-to-teacher ratio at RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL is approximately 19.1:1 (28 FTE teachers).
How diverse is RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL?
RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL reports a student body of 63% White, 16% Hispanic, 4% Black, 7% Asian, 6% Two or more.
What district is RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL in?
RUTH BARKER MIDDLE SCHOOL is part of BENTONVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.