Beating the Odds ELA

PULASKI COUNTY -- Three PCSSD schools have been recognized by the Office for Education Policy (OEP) at the University of Arkansas as schools that are "Beating the Odds." Students at Oak Grove Elementary, Harris Elementary and Mills Middle demonstrated high growth on the ACT Aspire even though the school serves a high percentage of students who participate in Free and Reduced Lunch.

The OEP creates an annual report entitled the Outstanding Educational Performance Awards where we recognize schools with high student academic growth.  OEP believes growth is the best indicator of the positive impact that a school has on students.

In the OEP Beating the Odds report, the three schools received the following awards: 

  • MILLS MIDDLE - "Beating the Odds" High ELA Growth: Middle Level (Central Region)
  • HARRIS ELEMENTARY - "Beating the Odds" Statewide ELA Growth: Elementary School Level and "Beating the Odds" High ELA Growth: Elementary Level (Central Region)
  • OAK GROVE ELEMENTARY - "Beating the Odds" High ELA Growth: Elementary Level (Central Region)

Awards are based on the 2019 content growth score calculated by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. These growth scores reflect how much students at the school improved from 2018 compared to how much they were expected to grow considering prior achievement. We recognize schools based on Overall growth, as well as for growth in Math and English Language Arts separately. 

To learn more about how we determined the OEP award winners and to see the full list of award recipients, you can view the report here.