Bearcat Wrap-up Podcast - Week 6: Twelve Points Away

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

Happy Friday!Thank you for another week of good, hard work. Six weeks in, our routines are holding, our classrooms are settled, and the instruction we are seeing is purposeful and paced. A particular thank-you goes to everyone who gave time beyond the school day this week. Our elementary staff has been hosting grade-level parent meetings, and our middle school and high school staff held parent-teacher conferences, which meant late afternoons and evenings on top of a full teaching load. Those conversations are where families stop being an audience and start being partners. Every one of you who stayed made this district stronger this week than it was last week, and we do not take that for granted.That work connects directly to our three performance targets: continued academic growth, daily attendance at or above 93.5 percent, and steady improvement in behavior and school climate. Parent meetings and conferences move all three at once. A family that understands what their child is expected to learn is a family that gets that child to school, backs you up on expectations, and asks better questions at home. There is no target on our list that gets easier without them.The state released the 2026 school and district report cards yesterday, and I want to give them to you straight before anyone hears a version of them somewhere else. This report card is the first hard evidence of what our academic growth target actually produced last year, and it is good news. It is also specific about where our work is not finished, which is exactly what a useful measure should do.What the Report Card SaysMena School District earned a B for the second year in a row, with an index score of 520.31 out of 900. Two years ago that number was 451.02. Last year it was 485.00. This year it is 520.31. That is 69 points of movement in two years, and it puts us above 85 percent of the 251 rated districts in Arkansas. Last year we were above 69 percent. The state median district scored 466.00, so we are sitting 54 points above the middle of the state.Three of our four indicators improved for the third consecutive year. Achievement climbed from 110.69 to 122.51 to 146.16 out of 300 possible points, which is the largest single jump on the report card. Behind that number, the percentage of our students scoring at levels 3 and 4 rose in every subject: English Language Arts from 35.40 to 43.96 percent, mathematics from 42.74 to 49.80 percent, and science from 44.37 to 52.40 percent. Overall Growth rose again to 165.75, with 62.79 percent of our students meeting their individual math growth targets, a rate that ranks above 95 percent of comparable districts. Success-Ready Graduate rose from 130.77 to 142.30 to 155.03 out of 200, carried by a four-year cohort graduation rate that moved from 85.71 percent to 97.54 percent and by 58.91 percent of our graduates finishing with Merit or Distinction.The building-level results are the part I am most proud to share. Mena Middle School moved from a C to a B, from 441.82 to 503.71, a gain of nearly 62 points. Mena High School also moved from a C to a B, from 405.63 to 471.91, a gain of more than 66 points, with 61.48 percent of graduates earning Merit or Distinction. Our elementaries held their B grade to give us Bs across the board. Two schools moved up a full letter grade in the same year. That does not happen by accident, and it does not happen without great teaching and support.It is also worth saying plainly that the gains were not limited to one group of students. Every reported student group in our district improved its index score over last year. Our economically disadvantaged students, who made up 68.1 percent of our enrollment, improved from 459.68 to 500.89 and earned a B of their own, ranking above 87 percent of comparable districts. When a district’s gains show up across the board rather than in one corner, it usually means the instruction changed rather than the roster.There is more data about our school and other schools available in the AR Data Hub. Mena Middle School Is an Arkansas Gem SchoolSecretary of Education Jacob Oliva notified us this week that Mena Middle School has earned a 2026 Arkansas Gem School designation for Growth by Content Area in Mathematics. That designation goes to schools ranking in the top 10 percent statewide within their grade span for growth in a single subject. Out of every middle school in Arkansas, our math growth is in the top tier.The numbers behind it are worth seeing. At Mena Middle School, 74.06 percent of students met their math growth target. Middle school math achievement reached 61.78 percent scoring at levels 3 and 4, against a state middle school median of 44.50 percent. And among the students who started the year farthest behind their peers, 74.00 percent met their math growth target, up from 61.63 percent the year before. Our lowest-performing math students grew faster than three-quarters of the state.Mena Middle School will receive a recognition item from the Department and a designation marker on My School Info. To our middle school math teachers, interventionists, and the leadership that protected the time to do this work: this is a state-level recognition earned entirely by results. Congratulations. When you share this one, please use #ArkansasGemSchool and tag the Arkansas Department of Education so the state can help us celebrate it.Where the Last Twelve Points LiveNow the honest part, and it is the reason I titled this Wrap-up the way I did.An A in Arkansas requires an index score of 532.00. We scored 520.31. We are 11.69 points from an A. After two years of climbing, we are closer to the top rating than most districts in this state will ever get, and we are close enough that the gap is no longer abstract. It has an address.Three of our four indicators went up. One went down. Growth of the Lowest Quartile fell from 55.69 to 53.37 out of 100 possible points, and it is the only place on our entire report card that moved backward. That indicator asks one question: are the students who are farthest behind their peers growing? Ours are growing, but not fast enough, and not evenly. Districtwide, 61.37 percent of our lowest-quartile students met their math growth target, which ranks above 86 percent of comparable districts and is genuinely strong. But only 47.48 percent met their ELA target, ranking above just 42 percent of districts, and only 51.25 percent met their science target, ranking above just 37 percent.That indicator is worth 100 points, and we earned 53.37 of them. There are 46.63 points sitting in it. We need 11.69. I want everyone to sit with that arithmetic for a minute, because it means the difference between a B district and an A district is not a mystery, a formula change, or a better group of students. It is reading and science instruction for the students who are furthest behind, and it is available to us this year.The pattern holds in every building, which tells me it is a system issue rather than a building issue. Lowest-quartile ELA growth was 50.00 percent at our elementary, 46.53 percent at the middle school, and 44.90 percent at the high school. Science was 47.42 percent at the middle school. And our elementary index declined this year, from 511.28 to 458.54, driven almost entirely by growth and lowest-quartile growth rather than achievement. Our elementary science achievement was actually our strongest achievement figure in the district at 55.19 percent. The gap there is growth, not content knowledge.So here is the ask. Every one of you knows which of your students are in that bottom quartile. Look at them by name, and look hardest at reading. Our math results prove we already know how to move students who start behind. We have done it at scale in one subject and earned a state designation for it. Now we do the same thing in literacy and science.We went from a C to a B in two years. Eleven points is the shortest distance we have ever had to cover.Closing CelebrationsThere is no football game tonight. Our Bearcats are on a bye, so enjoy a rare open Friday evening, and we will be back at Bob Carver Bearcat Stadium next Friday, September 25, for Homecoming and our conference opener against Waldron. The rest of our programs stayed busy this week. Our tennis teams had an outstanding Tuesday against Malvern, where our Bearcats swept all four matches. On the volleyball court, our junior Ladycats brought home a second-place finish from the Paris Tournament on Saturday.One more piece of good news, and it lands squarely alongside our report card. The Arkansas Department of Education has selected Chelsea Johnson, our eighth-grade math and Algebra I teacher at Mena Middle School, for the Arkansas Excellence in Teaching Fellowship. Now in its second year, this nine-month paid fellowship recognizes teachers who earn merit pay and elevates public understanding of what great teaching looks like. Congratulations, Mrs. Johnson. That is a well-earned recognition, and it reflects on the whole department that works alongside you.In Mena Morphology Matters, next week's root is phon, meaning sound. Our youngest students will meet it in sound (telephone), our third through fifth graders in telephone, our middle school students in microphone, and our high school students in symphony, with phonics, phonograph, and headphones available across every grade band. The Bearcat Word Detective Challenge asks students what would happen if people could not hear sound. We could not have picked a better root for the week this Wrap-up describes if we tried. Phonics sits right there in the middle of the word family, and phonics is exactly where the work on our lowest quartile begins. Before a student can grow in reading, that student has to be able to hear the sounds inside a word and match them to print. Our report card says reading growth for our students who are furthest behind is the last ground we have to cover. Next week our whole district will spend a week on a root that means sound. Let us make it count.It was a good week of validation at Mena Public Schools.At Mena Public Schools, our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.Keep Leveling-Up, and have a great weekend! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bearcatwrap.substack.com

Good afternoon and welcome to the week six wrap up entitled 12 points away. Our state report card is out in mean of public schools is a solid B and only 12 points from an A. There's a lot of numbers that I'm about to read from this wrap up. So if you're listening, you may want to open the article to be able to understand the numbers just as they are. Happy Friday. Thank you for another week of good hard work. Six weeks in our routines are holding our classrooms are settled and the instruction we are seeing is purposeful and paced A particular thank you goes out to everyone who gave time beyond the school day this week

Our elementary staff has been hosting grade-level parent meetings and our middle school and high school staff held parent-teacher conferences which meant late afternoons and evenings on top of a full teaching load Those conversations are where families stop being an audience and start being partners every one of you who stayed made this district stronger this week than it was last week and we do not take that for granted that work connects directly to our three performance targets continued academic growth daily attendance and at or above 93.5 percent attendance above 93.5 percent a steady improvement in behavior and school climate parent meetings and conferences move all three

at once a family that understands what their child is expected to learn as a family that gets that child to school, backs you up on expectations, and asks better questions at home. There is no target on our list that gets easier without them. The state released the 2026 school and district report cards yesterday, and I want to give them straight to you before anyone hears a version of them somewhere else. This report card is the first hard evidence of what our academic growth target actually produced last year, and it's good news is also specific about where our work is not finished which is exactly what a useful measure should do what the report card says mean the school district

earned a B for the second year in a row with an index score of 520.31 out of 900 two years ago that number was 451.02 last year it was 485 this year it is again 520.31 that is a that is 69 points of movement in two years and it puts us above 85% of the 251 rated districts in Arkansas last year we were above 69% the state median district scored 466.0 so we are sitting 54 points above the middle of the state three of our four indicators improved for the third consecutive year. Achievement climbed from 110.69 to 122.51 to 146.16 out of 300 possible points, which is the largest single jump on the report card. Behind that

number, the percentage of our students scoring at levels 3 and 4 rose in every subject. Language Arts rose from 35.4 to 43.96 percent. Mathematics from 42.74 to 49.8 percent. And science from 44.37 to 52.4 percent. Overall growth rose again to 165.75 with 62.79 percent of our students, meeting their individual math growth targets, a rate that ranks above 95 percent of comparable districts. Success ready graduates rose from 130.77 to 142.30 to 142.30 to 155.03 out of 200, carried by a four-year cohort graduation rate that moved from 85.71 percent to 97.54 percent and by 58.91 percent of our graduates finishing with merit or distinction. The building level results are the part I'm most proud to share.

Mena Middle School moved from a C to a B, from 441.82 points to 503.71, a gain of nearly 62 points. Meena High School also moved from a C to a B, from 405.63 to 471.91.91, a gain of more than 66 points, with a 61. 48% of graduates earning merit or distinction. Our elementary's held their B grade to give us Bs across the board. Two schools moved up with full letter grade in the same year. That does not happen by accident, and it does not happen without great teaching and support. It is also worth saying plainly that the gains were not limited to one group of students.

Every reported student group in our district improved its indexed school. scores over last year. Our economically disadvantaged students who made up 68.1% of our enrollment improved from 459.68 to 500.89.89.9 and earned a B of their own, ranking above 87% of our comparable districts. When a district's gain shows up across the board rather than in one corner, it usually means the instruction changed rather than the roster. There's a graph, in the article that will help you understand just where we land in the state. And there is more data about our school and other schools available at the AR data hub, which is linked under the graphic.

MENA Middle School is an Arkansas gym school. Secretary of Education Jacoba Oliva notified us this week that the Mena Middle School has earned a 2026 Arkansas Gym School designation for growth. by content area in mathematics. That designation goes to schools ranking in the top 10% statewide within their grade span for growth in a single subject. Out of every middle school in Arkansas, our math growth is in the top tier. The numbers behind it are worse seeing.

At MENA Middle School, 74.06% of students met their math growth target. Middle school math achievement reached 61.78 percent scoring at levels 3 and 4 against a state middle school median of 44.5 percent. And among the students who started the year farthest behind their peers, 74 percent met their math growth target up from 61.63 percent the year before. Our lowest performing math students grew faster than three-quarters of the state. Mena Middle School will receive a recognition item from the department and a designation marker on my school info. To our middle school math teachers, interventionists, and the leadership that protected the time to do this work, this is a state level recognition earned entirely by results.

Congratulations. When you share this information, please use the hashtag Arkansas Gym School and tag the Arkansas Department of Education so they can help us celebrate it. where the last 12 points live now the honest part and this is the reason I titled the wrap up the way I did and a in Arkansas requires an index score of 532 points we scored 520.3 1 we are 11.69 points from an A after two years of climbing we are closer to the top rating than most districts in the state will ever get and we are close enough to the gap that the gap is no longer

It has an address. Three of our four indicators went up. One went down. Growth of the lowest quartile fell from 55.69 to 53.37 out of 100 possible points. And it is the only place on our entire report card that moved backward. That indicator asked one question. Are the students who are farthest behind their peers growing? Hours are growing, but not fast enough, and not

evenly. District-wide 61.37 percent of our lowest quartile students met their math growth target which ranks above 86 percent of comparable districts and is genuinely strong. But only 47.48 percent met their ELA target, ranking above just 42 percent of districts and only 51.25 percent met their science target, ranking above just 37 percent. That indicator is worth 100 points and we earned 53.37 of them. There are 46.63 points sitting in it. We need 11.69.

I want everyone to sit with that arithmetic for a minute because it means the difference between a B district and an A district is not a mystery, a formula change, or a better group of students. It is reading and science instruction for the students who are further behind and it is available to us this year. The pattern holds in every building which tells me it is the system issue rather than a building issue. lowest quartile ELA growth was 50% in our elementary, 46.53% at the middle school, and 44.9% at the high school.

Science was 47.42% at the middle school. And our elementary index declined this year from 511. point two eight points to 458.54 driven almost entirely by growth in the lowest quartile growth rather than achievement our elementary science achievement was actually our strongest achievement figure in the district at 55.19 percent the gap there is growth not content knowledge so here's the ask everyone of you knows which of your students are at the bottom quartile look at them by name and look hardest at reading. Our math results prove we are we

already know how to move students who start behind. We've done it at scale in one subject and earn a state designation for it. Now we do the same thing in literacy and science. We went from a C to a B in two years. 11 points is the shortest distance we have ever had to cover. Closing celebrations. There's no football game tonight. Our bear cats are on a by so enjoy a rare open Friday evening and we will be back at Bob Carver Bearcats Stadium next Friday September 25th for homecoming and our conference opener against Waldron. The rest of our programs stayed busy this week. Our tennis teams had an outstanding Tuesday against Malvern where the

Bearcats swept all four matches. On the volleyball court our junior lady cats brought home a second place finish from the Paris tournament on Saturday. One more piece of good news that land squarely alongside a report card. The Arkansas Department of Education has selected Chelsea Johnson our eighth grade math and algebra one teacher at Mina Middle School for the Arkansas Excellence and Teaching Fellowship. Now in its second year, this nine-month paid fellowship recognizes teachers who earn merit pay and elevates public understanding of what great teaching looks like. Congratulations to Ms. Johnson. That is a well-earned recognition and it reflects

on the whole department that works alongside you. In metamorphology matters next week route next week's root is phone meaning sound. Our youngest students will meet it in sound telephone, our third through fifth graders in telephone, our middle school students in microphone, and our high school students in symphony with phonograph and headphones available across every grade band. The Bearcat Word Detective Challenge asked students what would happen if people could not hear sound. I could not have picked a better root for the week

for this week's wrap-up than I could not have picked a better route for the week this wrap-up describes if I had tried. Phonics sits right there in the middle of the word family, and phonics is exactly where the work on our lowest quartile begins. Before a student can grow in reading, that student has to be able to hear the sounds inside of the world, word and match them to print. A report card says reading growth for our students

who are furthest behind is the last ground we have to cover. Next week our whole district will spend a week on a route that means sound. Let us make it count. It was a good week of validation amina public schools. A mean of public schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident. Keep leveling up and have a great weekend.