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Lake View Sch. Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee
Cite as 351 Ark. 31 (2002)
Cite as 351 Ark. 31 (2002)
[351
- Arkansas students scored several tenths below the national average in a standardized test (ACT) between 1990 and 1999.
- Arkansas ranks lower than the national average for the percentage of adults twenty-five years and older who have graduated from high school.
- Arkansas ranks forty-ninth in the country for the percentage of the population age twenty-five or older with a Bachelors degree or higher.
- Arkansas is tied for fiftieth in the country in percentage of adults with graduate degrees.
- Arkansas' fourth- and eighth-grade students are below the national average for proficiency in math, reading, science and writing.
- On the first ACTAPP test, only forty-four percent of the fourth-grade students tested were proficient in reading and only thirty-four percent of those tested were proficient in math.
- Arkansas' per pupil revenue under the school-funding formula in school year 1996-97 was $4,535, while the national average was $5,923.
- Arkansas ranks between forty-eighth and fiftieth among the states in teacher pay.
Results of the State's own Benchmark testing for eighthgrade students in April 2000 showed that only sixteen percent were proficient or above in math statewide, and in the Little Rock School District only nine percent were proficient or above. Arkansas has no funding for the remediation of individual students and no funding to train teachers for remediation after ACTAPP evaluations.
With respect to Arkansas high school students entering state universities, fifty-eight percent needed remediation in either English or math. For the Rogers High School students entering a university (including some students with 3.0 grade averages), forty-four percent needed remediation in either English or math.
