Five Years Later, El Dorado Promise Making A Difference

On the five year anniversary of the El Dorado Promise, a new study shows how the scholarship program has impacted trends in the south Arkansas school district.

In January 2007, Murphy Oil announced it would contribute $50 million to help graduates of El Dorado Public Schools go to college tuition-free.

Five years later, a study conducted by the Office of Education Policy at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (UA-OEP) showed the following trends:

• El Dorado Public Schools have seen a 5% increase in student enrollment, whereas neighboring school districts from Texarkana to Crossett have seen 5% to 14% declines.
• The other 5 school districts in Union County, where El Dorado is located, have experienced a 13% decline in student enrollment.
• Promise leaders said that if pre-2007 trends continued, El Dorado Public Schools would have lost an additional 200 students.
• 80% of eligible high school graduates, or 780 students, have used the El Dorado Promise scholarship program.

The UA-OEP study followed El Dorado students who were in third grade in the 2005-06 academic year, before the Promise was announced, until they reached seventh grade in 2010-11.

“These El Dorado students were matched with identical students based on test scores, income level, and other criteria from similar school districts in southern Arkansas. While each group had similar test scores in third grade, five years later, El Dorado students scored significantly better than their matched peers – and better than the Arkansas average – in both math and literacy,” according to a press release.

The study also showed that El Dorado reversed a trend in its drop-out and graduation rates.

For more information, visit www.eldoradopromise.com.