Booneville Junior High School was recognized as a US News Best Middle School in a report released today.
“Our teachers and students work very hard to get better every day,” said BJHS principal Josh Walker. “I’m very proud of all of them, and they deserve this recognition.”
According to the US News website, schools earning the recognition “were assessed on their pupils’ proficiencies in mathematics and reading, as measured by state assessment tests. Half of the ranking formula was the results themselves; the other half was the results in the context of socioeconomic demographics.
“In other words, the top-ranked schools are high achieving ones that succeeded in educating all of their students. U.S. News published distinct elementary and middle school rankings calculated at the state and district levels, as well as state rankings specific to charter schools. All data for the rankings are from third-party sources, including the U.S. Department of Education. U.S. News has published numerical rankings for more than 47,000 public elementary schools and more than 23,000 public middle schools. Most schools with an elementary school ranking offer grades K-5 or K-6, while most with a middle school ranking offer grades 6-8 or 7-8.”
According to the rankings available on the website BJHS is in the top 32 percent in Arkansas.
For its overview of the school, US News’ website classifies the school as being in “a distant town setting.”
“The student population of Booneville Junior High School is 335 and the school serves 7-9. At Booneville Junior High School, 33% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math, and 48% scored at or above that level for reading. The school’s minority student enrollment is 12%. The student-teacher ratio is 13:1, which is the same as that of the district. The student population is made up of 49% female students and 51% male students.”
The reading performance was rated well above expectations and the math proficiency level was rated somewhat above expectations according to the report.