Education
Public, Private Institutions Offer Central Arkansans Lifetime of Learning
Pre-K through 12 (Public)
Nearly 26,000 students are enrolled in the Little Rock School District. Many of last year’s graduates continued their education at the some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities, including the University of Arkansas, Hendrix, Yale, Harvard, Vanderbilt, Wellesley, U.S. Military Academy-West Point, Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford, Washington & Lee, Emory, Bryn Mawr and many more.
Hall High School is in its third year of the application process for a challenging new curriculum called the International Baccalaureate program. This internationally recognized curriculum engages students in active learning with teachers who receive specialized training. Next year program graduates from the class of 2010 will receive the first IB diplomas ever awarded in the Little Rock School District. The district’s alternative education programs provide self-paced learning using the latest technology
while keeping students in a classroom setting.
As a provider of public education, the Little Rock School District will continue to focus on meeting the needs of the greater Little Rock community, preparing students to become knowledgeable employees, future business leaders and contributing members of society, and continuing to have a positive impact on the local economy.
The Little Rock School District fulfills much more than just its important role as education provider to the city’s students. In fact, the Little Rock School District is a $300 million business with over 4,000 full-time and part-time employees. Annual payroll of $176 million ranks it as one of the leading employers in the greater Little Rock area.
Each year, the district purchases goods and services from local retail businesses and professional service providers, helping contribute to Little Rock’s economy. District officials value the importance of their contributions to the business community and recognize the strong partnerships the Little Rock School District has formed with local businesses, both large and small.
Another area where the Little Rock School District contributes to the community is in workforce development. The district’s students are future accountants, radiology technicians, bankers and realtors. School programs such as those at the Metropolitan Career Technical Center, Job Shadowing and Arkansas Scholars add value to the traditional classroom education the schools provide to students. This year, more than 9,000 students are taking part in career and technical programs that will further prepare them
to take their place in the local and state workforce.
In 2007, Newsweek magazine ranked Little Rock’s Central High School the 36th best public high school in the nation.
The North Little Rock School District has grown to about 30 square miles since 1901 and now has 24 schools with just under 9,000 students and 1,700 employees.
North Little Rock’s high school is separated into two campuses. Eleventh- and twelfth-graders attend North Little Rock High School West Campus; and ninth- and tenth-graders are housed at North Little Rock High School East Campus. In addition, the North Little Rock School District operates 13 elementary schools, an all-sixth-grade school and three middle schools (grades 7 – 8). The district also has 35 preschool classrooms in addition to the Early Childhood Center located at Redwood and two secondary
alternative education programs. The average teacher salary is $38,000.
In addition to stressing basic learning skills, learning is enhanced through the use of computer technology, beginning in kindergarten and continuing through the 12th grade. More than 2,500 computers, as well as other types of technology such as laptop labs in high schools, graphing calculators and telecommunications, are available to students in the district. The district continues to add new technology to the learning experience as it becomes available.
More than 1,000 students participate in the Quest program for the gifted and talented. At the elementary level, the classroom teacher and the teacher facilitator for gifted education work together to provide educational programs to challenge and develop students’ potential.
Middle school students in the gifted program are placed in classes fitting with their specific needs, and senior high students are eligible for special honors and advanced placement that meet their specific needs, as well as the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. North Little Rock High School was the first public school in Arkansas to offer the IB program which is a very rigorous curriculum and puts seniors at a greater advantage when applying to prestigious colleges and universities. Senior high students
also are eligible for independent study under the supervision of an academic sponsor.
Registration begins each year in January for the fall semester. A child must be five years of age or older by September 1, 2009 to enter kindergarten for the 2009-2010 school year.
The Pulaski County Special School District was created in 1927 by an act of the Arkansas State Legislature that combined 38 independent school districts into the present “special school district.”
Geographically, the district serves a 729-square-mile area, making it the second-largest school system in the state. Pulaski County Special School District encompasses the territory outside the Little Rock and North Little Rock city limits and includes Sherwood, Maumelle and Jacksonville.
Nearly 3,000 employees meet the needs of the district’s 18,200 students. The student-teacher ratio in the district’s 37 schools averages 20 – 1. More than half of the teachers within the district hold a master’s degree or higher. The average teacher salary is $43,837.
The Pulaski County Special School District has a solid reputation for academic excellence. Special provisions are available for the talented and gifted, the exceptional and the career and technical student.
Twenty-four elementary schools operate in the Pulaski County Special School District, including Harris Elementary Health & Science Specialty, with a basic skills curriculum that is complimented by a science and health curriculum (and designated as a NASA Explorer school), and the Baker Interdistrict Elementary Economic Education Specialty, with a basic skills curriculum complimented by an educational theme of economics, including a full-time economics specialist on board.
A total of 14 secondary schools, including an alternative learning center, complete the exemplary educational program that students are offered in the Pulaski County Special School District.
Metropolitan Career Technical Center
The Little Rock School District operates the Metropolitan Career Technical Center at Interstate 30 and Scott Hamilton Drive, near the Little Rock Industrial District. The center is designed primarily to give high school students education in the world of work and also to give specific vocational training in various fields. About 450 high school students from several school districts attend an academic high school for half a day and then are transported to the center for half a day of training.
The wide range of classes offered by the center include advertising design and animation, architectural computer-aided drafting and design, auto paint and body technology, automotive technology, aviation technology/aircraft installation, computer systems technology; cosmetology, culinary arts, diesel technology, geospatial technology, law enforcement fundamentals, medical professions, metal fabrication/welding, printing technology, radio broadcasting, residential construction and visual productions.
Faulkner County
Six school districts in Faulkner County operate seven senior high schools, two junior high schools, five middle schools, one intermediate school, two primary schools, 16 elementary schools and one charter school. Total enrollment across all districts was 15,977 students, with a countywide average teacher salary of $44,333.
Lonoke County
Lonoke County’s four school districts operate five senior high schools, two junior high schools, four middle schools, 11 elementary schools and one primary school. Total enrollment for all districts is 12,037 students, with a countywide average teacher salary of $41,793.
Saline County
Saline County’s four school districts operate four senior high schools, two junior high schools, three middle schools and 14 elementary schools. Recent total enrollment for all districts was 13,565 students, with a countywide average teacher salary of $43,293.
Charter, Private and Special Needs Schools
A number of public charter, private and parochial schools in the Little Rock region offer accredited educational programs from the pre-kindergarten to high school levels. Special needs schools include the ACCESS Schools.
Graduate Schools, Colleges & Universities, Community Colleges, Junior Colleges, Technical Schools
For more on higher education opportunities in the Little Rock region, click here for a menu.