← AR High School Explorer

FORREST CITY HIGH SCHOOL

FORREST CITY · AR · FORREST CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT · Public

📄 Shareable scorecard →

📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • 📚 4 AP courses offered — Strong
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
  • ✅ Gifted & talented program
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: 52th percentile nationally
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: 71th percentile by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 82% (Bottom 29% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

💡

How FORREST CITY HIGH SCHOOL compares for families

Solid mid-tier academic profile.

  • StatewideAP rigor at the 52th percentile nationally with 4 AP courses.
  • LocallyAR trails the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (−5 points). Stronger local schools matter even more.
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Calvary Christian School, EAST ARKANSAS SECONDARY CAREER CENTER, PALESTINE-WHEATLEY SENIOR HIGH and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
📬

Follow FORREST CITY HIGH SCHOOL

Get an email when FORREST CITY HIGH SCHOOL's numbers change — new admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores. A few updates a year, no spam.

🎓 Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Strong — solid AP program + advanced courses

52th percentile nationally

50th 90th ↑ this school
Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor
AP courses offered
4
Subject breadth not reported
Advanced math classes
1
0 calculus · 1 advanced
Lab science classes
13
9 physics · 4 chemistry
Other rigor signals
✅ Dual-enrollment program
✅ Gifted/talented program

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

71th percentile by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
162
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
28.8
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 29% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
82%
Range: 80–84%
4-year cohort size
190
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
25.1%
Elevated — a quarter or more of teachers are in years 1-2. Often correlates with school instability.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
13.5%
Elevated. Teacher absence directly affects classroom continuity and student outcomes.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

100.0%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
32.3%
Well above the national average (~16%). At this level, chronic absence becomes a leading driver of enrollment loss as families rotate to other schools.
Students absent 15+ days
182
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the most reliable early indicator that a student will leave a school — either by transferring out, dropping out, or matriculating to a charter or private alternative. At this level, today's absentees become next year's enrollment loss and the year-after's revenue loss. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
375:1
Around the US median. Counselors are stretched but functional.
Counselor FTE
1.5
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.
Teacher FTE
40
Full-time-equivalent classroom teachers.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Grade 12 went from 133 in 2021 to 152 in 2024 — over 3 years.
+14.3%

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of -2.9%/year, projecting from 2024's 563 students:

2025
547
2027
515
2029
486

≈ 77 fewer students by 2029 — a real revenue/relevance risk worth getting ahead of.

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Revenue at risk

At $12,868 per student in district revenue, the 77 students projected to be lost by 2029 represent ≈ $990,836/year in funding at risk.

District total revenue ÷ enrollment, NCES F-33. Public funding largely follows enrollment, so a shrinking class is a recurring budget hit.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Calvary Christian School
Forrest City
Private 0.4 45
EAST ARKANSAS SECONDARY CAREER CENTER
FORRECT CITY
Public 2.1
PALESTINE-WHEATLEY SENIOR HIGH
PALESTINE
Public 7.8 247 +7.4%
WYNNE HIGH SCHOOL
WYNNE
Public 14.8 723 -6.0%
LEE HIGH SCHOOL
MARIANNA
Public 16.3 190 +8.0%
BRINKLEY HIGH SCHOOL
BRINKLEY
Public 24.7 120 -2.4%
EARLE HIGH SCHOOL
EARLE
Public 26.4 116 -14.1%
CROSS COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL A NEW TECH SCHOOL
CHERRY VALLEY
Public · charter 26.5 209 +8.9%

Researching colleges for your kid at FORREST CITY HIGH SCHOOL?

Get a personalized College Plan Audit — find Reach, Target, and Safety colleges matched to your kid's GPA, test scores, intended major, and your family's budget. Free.

Start the College Plan Audit →

For school leaders looking at enrollment trends: request an Enrollment Trend Audit →