07/16/15  Pine Bluff School Progress

State Board of Education members have approved a report on the Pine  Bluff School District's progress toward student achievement.  Just last month, a board committee  heard from the district's administrators on its schools labeled as priority schools or academically  distressed.

Academic distress means fewer than half of a school's students scored at proficient levels on state math and literacy exams during a three year period.  Priority schools are among the lowest-achieving 5 percent of schools on  tests.

The 43 hundred student district has four schools with  either label..Oak Park Elementary, Belair Middle, Jack Robey Jr. High and Pine Bluff High. At the  committee's June meeting, department officials recommended monthly reports to the Education Board on improvement efforts, along with an approved request for the department's school intervention  specialists to work directly with the Pine Bluff School Board.