Dear Superintendent Cantrell, 

Each year, the Office for Education Policy (OEP) at the University of Arkansas creates a report entitled the Outstanding Educational Performance Awards highlighting the highest-performing schools in Arkansas. Although the PARCC results have not yet been released, we are happy to announce OEP Science awards based on Benchmark and End-of-Course science exams.

We are pleased to share with you that Jasper High School won a “Beating the Odds” OEP award for performance on the Biology EOC exam. These awards are given to high-achieving schools that serve low-income communities where at least 66% of students are enrolled in the free/reduced lunch program. Awards are based on the OEP-created “school GPA,” calculated on the basis of the percentage of students that perform at a particular level on the Benchmark or End-of-Course exam (advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic). To learn more about how we determined the OEP award winners and to see the full list of award recipients, you can view the report here.     

We congratulate you on this accomplishment and hope that you will share this good news with teachers, students, and any others who contributed to your school’s success. This year we are providing a ‘virtual’ award that you can place on your school’s web site (download here), and we will send the physical award certificate to your school shortly. We encourage you to follow the OEP over the next few months as we release additional awards in science, math and literacy.  

If you would like to follow us and do not already, you can send an email to oep@uark.edu with the subject line “Add to OWL List” to be added to our weekly email list, or you can follow our blog at www.officeforedpolicy.com.

Congratulations again on your OEP “Beating the Odds” Science award!

The work of three Jasper High School students has been published in Arkansas Anthology, an annual literary magazine which showcases writing excellence among students from all regions of the state.

The 2015 edition features Amelia Long's poem "No One Knows," Andrew Adamson's poem "In the Place Where No Man Goes," and Emily Adamson's descriptive paragraph, "Camping."

Click here for a link to the entire magazine.