Arkansas Public Schools' Benchmark Scores Prove Money Isn't Everything

The Arkansas School Benchmarking scores were released last month, and they show some results that were expected and some that were surprising as well. Schools in the northwest performed well, while schools in the southeast corner of the state and those along the Mississippi Delta lagged far behind students in other parts of the state. This has set off discussions about the ties between student achievement and the financial health of schools. Traditional thinking maintains that for schools to have consistently high achievement, states must increase the funding for low performing schools. A careful study of the Arkansas Benchmarking scores indicates that more money doesn't always equal higher test scores.

In 2006, 61% of Arkansas fourth graders received proficient or advanced scores in literacy and 60% were proficient or advanced in math. The average expenditure per student in 2006 was $7687. If traditional reasoning holds, any school that spends less than the state average can expect lower test scores, while those schools who receive more tax money will see an increase in test scores and high student achievement rates.

Springdale, in the northwestern corner of Arkansas, is one of the state's most affluent cities. It is home to major corporate offices that have relocated to take advantage of Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt Trucking and is one of the fastest growing areas of the state in all things except school funding. In 2006, Springdale School District spent $7435 per student, a total slightly under the state average. The test scores for the fourth graders at Harp Elementary were anything but average. An impressive 80% of them scored at proficient or advanced levels in literacy and 73% accomplished the same feat on the math portion of the test. Compare this with Belair Elementary in the Pine Bluff School District. Only 30% of fourth graders were proficient or advanced in literacy, and the math scores were only slightly better with 36% being proficient or advanced in that subject. The low test scores are particularly disheartening when the Pine Bluff School District spends $8395 per student. That is $708 above the state average and $960 more than Springdale spends on their students.

The news is slightly better for the Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School in the Little Rock School District. Fifty-seven percent of their fourth graders were at or above grade level in literacy and 44% were at least proficient in math. The scores are slightly below the state average, but they do show an improvement from 2005's test scores. The only downside to the increased scores is the amount of money the Little Rock School District spends. At $10,311 per student, they have one of the highest per student expenditures in the state, but have little in the way of test scores or achievement to show for it.

From looking at the most recent figures, it is apparent that money doesn't equal academic success, but the state legislature and the local school boards continually ignore the data and ask for new taxes and millage increases for education. Maybe they should take a look at Westside Elementary in the Greenbrier School District. Like Harp Elementary, 80% of fourth graders scored at least proficient in literacy, and 80% also scored at or above grade level in math. These results are in the top ten percent of scores in the state, but with a per student expenditure of $6761, Greenbrier has one of the lowest per student allotments in the state.

Instead of continuing to reward under-performing schools with increased tax revenues, the government should study the best practices of schools such as Harp and Westside Elementaries, where they are getting high test scores and increased student achievement with less money. Maybe the fourth graders can help. I hear they are whizzes at math.