WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL

Set in FORT SMITH, Arkansas, WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL is an expansive 6-8 campus, run under FORT SMITH SCHOOL DISTRICT. It works with 711 students across grades 6 through 8. By comparison, Arkansas's public schools average about 464 students each, so WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL sits 53% bigger than that benchmark.

Within FORT SMITH SCHOOL DISTRICT, which oversees 27 schools and 14,164 students, WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL is one campus in the system.

Demographically, WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL records that the largest single group is Hispanic at 50%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 30% White, 10% multiracial, 9% Black. The wider county runs roughly 16% Hispanic, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Hispanic than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL shows 57 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.5:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.9:1 average. Roughly 83% of students at WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is north of Sebastian County's rate of about 65%.

With demographic context factored in, WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 28.5%, the actual is 24.9%, a residual of -3.6 points.

In the broader community, ACS estimates for Sebastian County put median household earnings sit near $57,790, about 23% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 11%. Across Sebastian County's 44 public schools (combined enrollment of about 20,239 students), WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL is one campus in the mix.

TILLES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.2 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, higher than the local average of 21.1%.

The campus sits in a downtown setting.

Looking at the recent track record. WILLIAM O. DARBY MIDDLE SCHOOL's enrollment has edged up 6% since 2018, when it stood at 670 (now 711). The Hispanic share of enrollment shrank from 54% to 50% over that span.

On allk12, recent activity here tends to focus on sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.