Friendship Aspire Academy Southeast Campus was recognized recently among the top 10% of schools in Arkansas for growth and graduation rates by the Arkansas School Recognition Program.
The program was created by state law to provide financial awards to public schools that experience high student performance and those with high student academic growth, which includes high school graduation rate comparisons for secondary schools. Each campus is awarded up to $50 per student enrolled for placing in the top 6-10% of all Arkansas public schools, and Friendship-Southeast was awarded $1,332.52 for its achievements during the 2023-24 school year.
Friendship-Southeast served grades 6-9 last school year and has added 10th grade for this year as part of its slow-growth model. The first senior class at Friendship-Southeast will graduate in 2027.
“The biggest thing for us was just putting in that extra time in ELA (English/language arts) and making sure we closed those deficits,” high school Principal Anitra Rogers said. ” That meant we went to block scheduling the second semester of the school year to make sure we were given that additional time that was needed.”
In the block scheduling, A-days were days designed to help Friendship-Southeast “move the needle forward” in learning ELA and math, and B-days were intervention days that allowed teachers to spend time with students on the lessons, Rogers said.
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“It’s all hands on deck, from the band teachers to the choir, theater, all of us,” she said. “This is not just coming from your core teachers. You’re getting it from every class across the curriculum.”
Will Douthard, the middle school principal, said the decisions made at Friendship-Southeast are data-driven. He and Rogers work collaboratively to do what’s in the best interests of the students and staff, he said.
“We’re trying to make sure we’re giving them the foundational skills they need to get ready for high school accreditation,” Douthard said. “The middle school courses get you set for those organizational skills, basic reading and writing and arithmetic in math.”
Schools that placed in the top 5% received $100 per student enrolled. Three campuses in the Bentonville School District reached this echelon.
Friendship-Southeast officials also have been invited to a private Model Schools Conference, to be held in June at Gaylord National Resort in Oxon Hill, Md., in recognition of their efforts.