Elementary school excels in state

A Pine Bluff charter school has ranked among the top 10 elementary schools in the state for statewide English language arts (ELA) growth based on ACT Aspire test performance, despite serving a high percentage of students who participate in free and reduced lunch.

A report from the Office for Education Policy at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, entitled “Beating the Odds” found that Friendship Aspire Academy Pine Bluff was ranked No. 9. The school, which enrolled 85% of its students on free and reduced lunch during the 2020-21 school year, posted a combined content growth score of 86.08.

Friendship Pine Bluff, located on South Hazel Street, was also ranked No. 1 in the Central Region based on ELA ACT Aspire Growth.

“We did set out to achieve at a high level,” Friendship Principal Jherrithan Dukes said. “That was a goal we had internally, from the district office to the school level. All of our teachers knew what we were going for. I’m not going to say we didn’t have a choice, but everybody was committed to what the plan was for our students.”

Friendship Pine Bluff is breaking down the stereotype that schools with a high poverty rate cannot perform well academically, according to its second-year leader.

“That’s exactly what I shared with my staff,” Dukes said, adding administration and faculty members have been celebrating the report. “Anytime we receive a reward, they’re the first ones to get a chance to know because they’re the ones that put in the work. ‘Beating the Odds,’ I don’t want them to take offense to it, but at the same time, it says a lot about what people think what our population of students should be able to achieve. However, it’s very important that we as the educators and the leaders of the school that we don’t buy into that stereotype, because if we do, our students will not be able to achieve at such a high level.”

Friendship enrolled kindergartners through third graders during 2020-21 and has added fourth grade to its elementary school campus. It has plans to open another campus downtown for 2022-23 to accommodate a long waiting list.

The 2021 growth scores, according to the OEP, were calculated by the Arkansas Department of Education and reflect how much

students at the school improved from 2019 compared to how much they were expected to grow considering prior achievement. There was no proficiency testing in 2020 due to covid-related closures, the OEP said.

“The biggest challenge we had was school was not able to look like what school was originally, where students were able to be grouped together, to learn from each other, to be close by because students do learn a lot from each other,” Dukes said. “But the biggest thing that was a challenge for us was the back-and-forth between virtual to on-side and on-site to virtual. You’d look up and you’d never know who was going to be in class or who was going to be online.”

The top 10 elementary schools statewide for ELA growth, according to the report, were George in Springdale (90.82), Weiner (88.43), Green Forest (88.3), John Tyson in Springdale (87.54), Monitor in Springdale (86.56), King in Van Buren (86.55), Westwood in Springdale (86.45), Des Arc (86.11), Friendship and Jones in Rogers (85.39).

Elementary schools ranked Nos. 2-5 in the Central Region, in order, were Ida Burns (84.34), Theodore Jones (84.30) and Marguerite Vann (84.04), all in Conway; and Taylor in White Hall (83.88).

Friendship students engage in learning daily through a “community meeting” between students and faculty.

“We have a socio-economic curriculum that we use,” assistant principal Timothy Scott said. “It allows the students to be able to feel empowered to express themselves so we know how they feel. We want to know how we can maximize learning through the day. What can we do to get you to maximize your learning?

“… We don’t teach one way. We use various strategies to allow those students to be engaged with the learning and be empowered to ask questions on ‘How did we get to that step?’ and ‘What was the purpose of this?’”

Friendship Aspire Schools in Arkansas had more than just the Pine Bluff campus’ achievement to celebrate. Friendship Aspire Middle Academy in Little Rock, which serves grades 6-8, enrolls 99% of its students on free and reduced lunches and posted an ELA combined content growth score of 81.35, good for fourth among middle schools in the Central Region behind Jessieville, Bob Courtway in Conway and Lonoke. Exalt Academy of Southwest Little Rock was fifth.

“This award and the work we’ve done is largely attributed to the scholars, our students and their families,” said Joe Harris, CEO of the Friendship Education Foundation. “We have a great experienced staff, Principal Jherrithan Dukes, Angela Dixon who is the teacher and ELA coach, and assistant principal Tim Scott all did an excellent job of assuring there was no interruption in the kids’ education and kept them focused.”

Four southeast Arkansas elementary schools earned top-five rankings in the Southeast Region for Math ACT Aspire Growth scores. Des Arc was ranked No. 1, followed by Hermitage, McGehee, Eudora and Brown in Star City.