The Little Rock School District provides education to students within the city boundaries, as well as to students who live outside the city who opt to transfer to one of the magnet or interdistrict schools. Local schools are recognized for their multicultural diversity and high academic standards. The McClellan High School business education program was named best in the nation during the 1995–1996 school year. Nearly two dozen magnet and incentive schools offer students focused academic programs in such disciplines as art, math/science, communications, and international studies.
In 2002, after more than 40 years of court-supervised desegregation monitoring, Little Rock was found to have met the terms of a 1998 plan to improve performance of minority students. Two years later, however, this ruling was reversed, citing inadequate measurement of such progress. Little Rock's efforts will remain under court supervision until at least 2006.
The following is a summary of data regarding Little Rock's public schools as of the 2003–2004 school year.
Total enrollment: 25,491
Number of facilities
elementary schools: 34
junior high/middle schools: 8
senior high schools: 6
other: the Alternative Learning Center serves grades 6 through 12, and the Accelerated Learning Center provides education for students in grades 9 through 12
Student/teacher ratio: 14.6:1
Teacher salaries
average: $39,531 (2000–2001)
Funding per pupil: $7,189 (2000–2001)
A number of private and parochial schools also offer programs from pre-kindergarten through high school. In addition, the city is home to two special facilities, the Arkansas School for the Blind and the Arkansas School for the Deaf.
Public Schools Information: Little Rock School District, 810 W. Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72201; telephone (501)447-1000
Little Rock has two universities and two colleges that offer a variety of two- and four-year programs as well as advanced study in such areas as medicine, engineering, law, and social work. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is by far the largest institution of higher learning in the city, enrolling more than 11,000 students. A branch of the main campus in Fayetteville, the Little Rock facility offers more than 90 degree programs ranging from associate to doctoral. Medicine, nursing, health-related professions, and pharmacy are taught on a separate campus in town, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The university's William H. Bowen School of Law is located within walking distance from the judicial hub of downtown Little Rock.
Philander Smith College is a private four-year liberal arts college that is the state's only institution affiliated with United Negro College Fund. Philander Smith was founded in 1877 and was one of the Southwest's first African American colleges.
Arkansas Baptist College, founded in 1884 as the Minister's Institute, offers degrees in social sciences, business administration, theology, and liberal arts.
Webster University, established in Little Rock in 1986, offers master's degrees in business administration, international business, management, computer resources management, health services management, and human resources development.
Little Rock area residents also attend institutions in neighboring communities, including the University of Central Arkansas, Central Baptist College, Hendrix College, Shorter College, and Pulaski Technical College.
Higher Education Information: University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock, AR 72204-1099; telephone (501)569-3000
The Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) serves Pulaski County and neighboring Perry County (with the exception of North Little Rock). In 1997 the main branch spent $12.5 million to renovate a warehouse, and relocated into the River Market District of downtown Little Rock. That same year, the Richard C. Butler Center for Arkansas Studies was established within CALS to promote the study of Arkansas history though online resources and lesson plans for teachers. Additionally, there are 11 branches throughout the area, housing a total of more than one-half million volumes.
Approximately two dozen special libraries also operate in Little Rock, most of them serving very specific medical or business needs. Other libraries offering specialized collections are the Arkansas Arts Center/Elizabeth Prewitt Taylor Memorial Library, which specializes in art, drama, and early American jazz; the Arkansas State University/Dean B. Ellis Library, which houses the Lois Lenski Collection, Arkansas Authors of Children's Books Collections, and the Cass S. Hough Aeronautical Collection; and the Arkansas Territorial Restoration Library, which features material on state and local history, decorative arts, conservation, and historic preservation.
The American Native Press Archives at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, established in 1983 as a clearing-house for information on American Indian and Alaska Native newspapers and periodicals, has evolved into one of the world's largest repositories of Native thought. A joint effort of the Department of English and the Ottenheimer Library, it now serves to collect and archive the products and materials of the Native press, to collect and document the works of Native writers, and to construct bibliographies of Native writing and publishing. The Archives, located in the Sequoyah Research Center, also serves as repository for the archives of the Native American Journalists Association and the Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers.
In addition to the academic libraries of colleges and universities in the area, Little Rock is home to such special libraries as those operated by the Arkansas Geological Commission, the Arkansas History Commission and State Archives, and the Arkansas Supreme Court. It is also the seat of the Arkansas State Library, which serves as the information center for the state's libraries.
Library Information: Central Arkansas Library System, 100 Rock Street, Little Rock, AR 72201; telephone (501)918-3000