Score Hype? Arkansas’ Missing Proof

Arkansas leaders are celebrating rising test scores as proof their reforms work, but no one has yet shown which changes actually helped kids learn more.

Story Snapshot

Arkansas test scores have climbed since the LEARNS law, yet most students still are not on grade level.
Supporters credit bans on critical race theory and gender topics, but state officials point to reading and testing reforms instead.
LEARNS is a huge package, from teacher raises to school choice, making it hard to prove what caused the gains.
Both left and right worry that political spin, not honest data, is driving the story of Arkansas’ “success.”

What Arkansas’ Rising Scores Really Show

Arkansas officials reported that student proficiency on the new ATLAS state test rose from about one‑third of students at grade level in 2024 to just over two‑fifths in 2026.^[3] Math and science scores passed the mid‑40 percent range, while reading reached around 40 percent, with third‑grade reading moving from roughly 35 percent to 43 percent in two years.^[3]^[4] These gains are real progress for families who watched learning fall behind during the pandemic, yet most students in Arkansas still test below grade level.^[3]

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders framed the improvements as evidence that her LEARNS overhaul and early bans on critical race theory and certain gender topics are paying off.^[1]^[2]^[3] The LEARNS Act, passed in 2023 as Act 237, raised starting teacher pay to $50,000, expanded school choice through Education Freedom Accounts, funded new literacy programs, and rewrote accountability rules.^[2] State materials describe a three‑phase rollout from 2023 through the 2025–2026 school year, the first year LEARNS was fully in place statewide.^[1]

Culture War Claims Versus Classroom Changes

Conservative media headlines quickly linked the score gains to “banning critical race theory and gender nonsense,” echoing long‑standing anger at identity politics in schools.^[2]^[3]^[4] Sanders did sign an executive order on day one that targeted critical race theory and what she called “indoctrination,” and the LEARNS law later folded similar limits into state statute.^[3]^[5] Many parents on the right see this as simply getting back to basics, after years of feeling like schools spent more time on ideology than on reading, writing, math, and science.^[3]^[5]

State education leaders, though, tell a different story when asked why scores climbed. Arkansas Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva has highlighted clearer academic standards, earlier testing, and same‑day feedback to parents as the main drivers.^[3]^[4] He emphasized that assessments now start as early as kindergarten, with interventions triggered long before third grade, which research often flags as a crucial reading milestone.^[3] Official LEARNS documents stress reading coaches, “science of reading” materials, and stronger accountability systems as the core tools, not the culture‑war provisions.^[3]^[4]

Legal Fights, Deep State Fears, and What We Still Do Not Know

The part of LEARNS that bans so‑called “prohibited indoctrination,” including critical race theory, has also faced courtroom battles. A federal judge blocked that section in 2024, raising questions about how much it was actually in force while scores were rising.^[1]^[7] A federal appeals court has since said the state can enforce its critical race theory ban, arguing students cannot demand any specific curriculum under the First Amendment.^[7] That back‑and‑forth makes it harder to claim the ban itself drove the testing gains.

Outside Arkansas, education data tell a messy national story. Many districts still show lower scores than a decade ago, especially after the pandemic, even as some states that tightened standards and accountability improved.^[9]^[10]^[16] Researchers find that stronger accountability systems often line up with better state test results, but those are statistical links, not proof that any single law caused a jump.^[9] That wider pattern should make Americans cautious when any politician—left or right—presents short‑term gains as final proof that their favorite reform “fixed” schools.

Why Both Sides Feel the System Is Playing Them

For many conservative readers, Arkansas seems to prove what they have argued for years: pay good teachers, give parents choice, strip out divisive race and gender content, and scores will rise. They see LEARNS as a model where money follows students, not systems, and where schools return to the basics rather than pushing a globalist or “woke” agenda.^[2]^[6]^[7] For them, any attack on these reforms looks like the education establishment protecting its power and union jobs.

For many liberals, the same story sets off alarms. They worry that behind the test‑score celebration, vouchers and Education Freedom Accounts are draining public schools, and that bans on critical race theory and discussions of sexual orientation silence honest talk about race and identity.^[2]^[4]^[7] They see wealthy donors and political insiders shaping curriculum from the top down, while poor and minority students still struggle to reach grade level, even after the “reforms.” Both camps share a deeper fear: that the system sells them tidy success stories while hiding how little has truly changed.

What Honest Accountability Would Look Like

Real accountability would demand more than a podium speech and a few headline numbers. Arkansas has not yet released a detailed, independent study that separates LEARNS effects from recovery after the pandemic, district‑level changes, or shifting student populations.^[1]^[3]^[4] There is no public breakdown by district, income, or race that shows whether gains are widespread or concentrated in a handful of places.^[3]^[4] Without that, voters are being asked to take on faith that a huge, politically charged law worked exactly as advertised.

Serious next steps are available if leaders want proof instead of spin. Analysts could compare Arkansas trends to similar states that did not adopt a LEARNS‑style package, using methods that try to isolate the law’s impact.^[9]^[10]^[14] They could also test which pieces mattered most—teacher raises, reading coaches, early tests, or content restrictions—by tracking how each district implemented them and how scores moved.^[1]^[2] Until that happens, the safest conclusion is simple: Arkansas students are doing somewhat better, but the story of why is still being written, and citizens on both left and right are right to demand clearer answers.