Arkadelphia High School is a comprehensive

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

junior/senior

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

serving grades nine through twelve in the rural, fringe community of

Arkadelphia, Arkansas Arkadelphia is a city in Clark County, Arkansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,714. The city is the county seat of Clark County. It is situated at the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains. Two universities, Henderson ...

, United States. Located in Clark County, Arkadelphia High School is the largest of three public high schools in the county and is the sole high school managed by the

Arkadelphia School District Arkadelphia Public School District is a public school district located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, United States. The school district supports families with education facilities and educators from early childhood through secondary education. In add ...

. The school has been recognized for its academic programs as a

National Blue Ribbon School The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

. In addition to Arkadelphia, the district (and therefore the high school's attendance boundary) includes Caddo Valley and Gum Springs.

Academics

Curriculum

The assumed course of study at Arkadelphia High School exceeds the

Smart Core curriculum Smart or SMART may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014 * Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com * ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper * ''SMart'', a children's television ser ...

developed by the

Arkansas Department of Education Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

(ADE). Students engage in regular and

Advanced Placement Advanced Placement (AP) is a program in the United States and Canada created by the College Board which offers college-level curricula and examinations to high school students. American colleges and universities may grant placement and course ...

(AP) coursework and exams to obtain at least 26 units (graduating classes of 2012 and 2013) and 27 units (graduating classes of 2014 and 2015) beyond the 22 units required by the Smart Core curriculum. The Arkadelphia School District offers students regular or advanced diplomas, based on coursework and grade point average. Exceptional students have been recognized as

National Merit Finalists The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...

and participated in

Arkansas Governor's School The Arkansas Governor's School (also known as Arkansas Governor's School for the Gifted and Talented or AGS) is a publicly funded four-week (formerly six-week) residential summer program offered to rising seniors in the state of Arkansas. The scho ...

. The school maintains a concurrent credit partnership with College of the Ouachitas community college, whereas students may receive high school and college credit simultaneously.

Awards and recognition

In 1990-91, Arkadelphia High School was honored as a

by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) for the results of its academic programs. In 1991, Arkadelphia High School principal Herman Thomas was awarded the National Milken Educator Award. Arkadelphia High School was nationally recognized in the

Challenge Index The Challenge Index is a method for the statistical ranking of top public and private high schools in the United States, created by ''The Washington Post'' columnist Jay Mathews. It is also the only statistical ranking system for both public and pri ...

report presented by the ''Washington Post'', that measures the number of college-level tests given at the school divided by the number of graduates. In 2011, Arkadelphia had an index score of 1.033 and was ranked as the No. 29 school in Arkansas. In 2012, Arkadelphia's index score jumped to 3.412 and ranking as the No. 4 school in Arkansas and No. 284 in the United States. In 2012, Arkadelphia School District and its high school were recognized in the ''AP District of the Year Awards'' program in the

College Board The College Board is an American nonprofit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a ...

's 3rd Annual Honor Roll that consisted of 539 U.S. public school districts (6 in Arkansas) that simultaneously achieved increases in access to AP® courses for a broader number of students and improved the rate at which their AP students earned scores of 3 or higher on an AP Exam.

Athletics

The Arkadelphia High School mascot is the badger with royal blue, red, and white serving as the school colors. For the 2012-2014 seasons, the Arkadelphia Badgers participate in the 4A 3 Conference. Competition is primarily sanctioned by the

Arkansas Activities Association The Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) is the primary sanctioning body for high school sports in state of Arkansas. AAA is a member association of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHSA). Every public secondary sch ...

with the Badgers competing in baseball,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

(boys/girls),

cheer Cheering involves the uttering or making of sounds and may be used to encourage, excite to action, indicate approval or welcome. The word cheer originally meant face, countenance, or expression, and came through Old French into Middle English ...

, cross country (boys/girls),

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

(boys/girls), softball,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

(boys/girls), track and field (boys/girls), and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

. The Arkadelphia Badgers have won numerous state championships, including four football, seven volleyball, two baseball, three tennis, two track and field, one wrestling, one golf, and one swimming and diving. The 1987 Badgers football went undefeated at 14-0, won the 3A state football championship against the White Hall Bulldogs with a final score of 21-6, led by head coach John Outlaw and were ranked No. 21 in the nation by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''. The Badgers also won state championships in 1979, also back to back championships in 2017 and 2018 defeating Warren High School and Joe T. Robinson in the title games.

Notable people

Fitz Hill Omon Fitzgerald Hill (born March 28, 1964) is a former American football player and coach and college administrator. Hill served as the head football coach at San Jose State University from 2001 to 2004, compiling a record of 14–33. He was the ...

, football coach, university presidentRon Kroichick
PROFILE / Fitz Hill / Hill's long battle up / Spartans' coach overcomes barriers, personal tragedy
''San Francisco Chronicle'', August 19, 2001, accessed August 1, 2013.

References

External links

* {{authority control Public high schools in Arkansas Schools in Clark County, Arkansas Buildings and structures in Arkadelphia, Arkansas