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What's the one class at WATSON CHAPEL JR. HIGH SCHOOL every student should take?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
334
Middle
DISTRICT 388 · STATE 464
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WATSON CHAPEL SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 051393001212
WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
3900 CAMDEN ROAD, PINE BLUFF, AR 71603 · (870) 879-4420 · Jefferson County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE32-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL334 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 2% of Arkansas public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- FBeats 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
10.3:1
32 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.7:1 · STATE 13.9:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
67%
224 students
DISTRICT 71% · STATE 70%
Community
1
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 6 | 96 | 29% |
| Grade 7 | 110 | 33% |
| Grade 8 | 128 | 38% |
Student demographics
19%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 22% · 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
Students here typically continue to
WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL→WATSON CHAPEL HIGH SCHOOL
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within WATSON CHAPEL SCHOOL DISTRICT. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
ATLAS 2024-25 . % Proficient (Level 3+4)English Language Arts
14.1%
AR avg 34.9% . +0.0pp since 2023
Math
9.8%
AR avg 38.9% . +0.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the ATLAS, Arkansas's statewide test, about 14 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 10 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 have held steady.
ATLAS results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 14.1% | 9.8% |
| 2023-24 | 14.1% | 9.0% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of AR schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
12.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
34.9%
based on AR schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-22.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 13% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 35% typical for Arkansas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL's state test result (12.6% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL this school | 334 | 67.1% | 12.6% |
| FRIENDSHIP ASPIRE ACADEMY SOUTHEAST MIDDLE SCHOOL PINE BLUFF PINE BLUFF | 236 | 66.1% | 20.2% |
| ESTEM JUNIOR HIGH PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL LITTLE ROCK | 401 | 73.6% | 38.5% |
| MAUMELLE MIDDLE SCHOOL MAUMELLE | 498 | 58.8% | 18.7% |
| MARION SEVENTH GRADE ACADEMY MARION | 287 | 75.3% | 20.0% |
| JACKSONVILLE LIGHTHOUSE FLIGHTLINE ACADEMY LITTLE ROCK | 156 | 67.9% | 22.1% |
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 WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Arkansas |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 12.6% | #197 of 207 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 9.8% | #199 of 208 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 14.1% | #196 of 208 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 334 | #142 of 217 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.3:1 | #12 of 188 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 18.8% | #163 of 188 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 67.1% | #94 of 210 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -43.0% | #3 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
334
-238 (-42%) vs 2020
-63% since 1990-91, when it was 897
Student : Teacher
10.3:1
was 15.1:1
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 | 334 | 32.4 | 10.3:1 | 67% (224) |
| 2023-24 | 392 | 27.3 | 14.3:1 | 100% (392) |
| 2022-23 | 463 | 38.1 | 12.2:1 | 100% (463) |
| 2020-21 | 572 | 38 | 15.1:1 | 100% (572) |
| 2017-18 | 586 | 53.7 | 10.9:1 | 30% (175) |
| 2015-16 | 643 | 51 | 12.6:1 | 72% (462) |
| 2010-11 | 798 | 49 | 16.3:1 | 68% (539) |
| 2000-01 | 837 | 56 | 14.9:1 | 50% (420) |
| 1990-91 | 897 | 46 | 19.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL.
About WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL runs as a low-enrollment middle school in PINE BLUFF, Arkansas. It enrolled 334 students in grades 6 through 8 for the 2024-25 school year. Enrollment is 28% lower than the average for middle schools in Arkansas, which is about 464.
WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL is one school in a 4-school district, WATSON CHAPEL SCHOOL DISTRICT, which enrolls 1,552 students.
Federal enrollment data show WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL is 90% Black. After that, the student body is 7% White. Among all residents of Jefferson County, the Black share is about 57%. The school's diversity index is 19%, meaning two students picked at random have a 19% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Its teaching staff equals 32.4 full-time positions, a ratio of 10.3:1. That is lower than the 13.9:1 average for middle schools in Arkansas. Free and reduced-price lunch eligibility, a common measure of family income, is 67%. Compared with the 77% average for public schools in Jefferson County, the school's rate is lower.
The allk12 Grade for WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL is F. Compared with Arkansas public middle schools, the school scored higher than 2% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Schools in Arkansas with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to post an average proficiency rate on state tests near 34.9%. WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL posts 12.6%, 22.3 points below that, which places it in the bottom 10% statewide on BeatsExpectations.
According to the American Community Survey, in Jefferson County, the median household income is $51,096, 20% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 15% of people live in poverty. WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL is one of 28 public schools in the county.
WATSON CHAPEL HIGH SCHOOL is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles away. Within five miles of WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, there are at least 8 other public schools. Its average proficiency rate of 12.6% is below the 15.2% average for nearby schools.
The school is in a town some distance from an urbanized area, according to its NCES locale (Town: Distant).
Federal data put enrollment at 572 in 2020-21 and 334 in 2024-25; the school may have served different grades in those years. The school's ratio fell from 15.1:1 to 10.3:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
If you have questions about school safety, transportation, and start times at WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Jefferson County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
64,802
Census ACS
Median income
$51,096
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
20%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
15%
Below federal line
Schools in county
28
8,520 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in WATSON CHAPEL SCHOOL DISTRICT
- WATSON CHAPEL HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 593 students
- COLEMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 426 students
- EDGEWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 199 students
- L. L. OWEN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLCombined
Other schools in PINE BLUFF
- PINE BLUFF HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 688 students
- PINE BLUFF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLMiddle · 610 students
- WATSON CHAPEL HIGH SCHOOLHigh · 593 students
- FRIENDSHIP ASPIRE ACADEMY HAZEL ST PINE BLUFFElementary · 469 students
- COLEMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 426 students
- THIRTY-FOURTH STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOLElementary · 399 students
Nearby schools
- WATSON CHAPEL HIGH SCHOOL0.1 mi · 593
- EDGEWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.3 mi · 199
- COLEMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL1.9 mi · 426
- SOUTHWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL2.1 mi · 345
- FRIENDSHIP ASPIRE ACADEMY HAZEL ST PINE BLUFF2.5 mi · 469
- FORREST PARK GREENVILLE PRESCHOOL2.6 mi · 204
Frequently asked questions
About WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLWhat is the total enrollment at WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL?
WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL enrolls approximately 334 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL serve?
WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
How many students per teacher at WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL?
Approximately 10.3:1 students per teacher at WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL.
What is the racial breakdown of students at WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL?
At WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, the student body is approximately 7% White, 2% Hispanic, 90% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Two or more.
What district is WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL in?
WATSON CHAPEL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL is part of WATSON CHAPEL SCHOOL DISTRICT.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.