Fayetteville Public Schools — Policy Analysis 2026
Grand Total
55 / 106
51.9%
Base Score
49 / 96
Extra Credit
6 / 10
Score by Section
| Section | Score | Max | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Culturally Responsive Training | 2 | 8 | Notes |
| Clear & Consistent Policies | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Restorative Justice Practices | 4 | 8 | Notes |
| Bias Awareness & Mitigation | 4 | 8 | Notes |
| Culturally Relevant Curriculum | 2 | 8 | Notes |
| Community Engagement & Collaboration | 5 | 8 | Notes |
| Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion | 3 | 8 | Notes |
| Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices | 5 | 8 | Notes |
| Data Collection & Analysis | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Student Voice & Leadership | 0 | 8 | Notes |
| Equitable Access to Support Services | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Continuous Evaluation & Improvement | 4 | 8 | Notes |
| Extra Credit | 6 | 10 | Notes |
Suggestions to Improve the Score
Every item below its maximum, worst gap first, with the reviewer's own notes as the rationale.
Show suggestions (35)
- 1.2 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mentorship programs for culturally diverse staff — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found of a mentorship program specifically for culturally diverse staff.
- 1.4 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Regular feedback/measurement on training effectiveness — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found showing a formal feedback/measurement process for training effectiveness.
- 3.3 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Curriculum integrates conflict-resolution skills — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found showing conflict-resolution skills are formally integrated into the academic curriculum.
- 3.4 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Peer mediation program — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found of a peer mediation program in Fayetteville, AR schools.
- 4.4 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Diverse perspectives & materials in curriculum — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found confirming diverse perspectives/materials are systematically embedded in FPS curriculum.
- 5.1 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Curriculum materials reflect student backgrounds — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found describing curriculum materials specifically reflecting Fayetteville students' diverse backgrounds.
- 5.4 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Culturally specific courses/electives — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found of culturally specific courses or electives (e.g., ethnic studies) in FPS course catalog.
- 6.3 [Community Engagement & Collaboration]: Advisory committees with community representation — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found of a standing FPS advisory committee with formal community representation (distinct from other 'Fayette' districts nationally).
- 7.4 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Participation in equity-focused conferences — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found regarding staff participation in external equity-focused conferences.
- 8.2 [Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices]: Safe, supportive spaces (mindfulness/sensory) — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found of district-wide sensory/mindfulness/calming rooms specific to FPS.
- 10.1 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Student advisory councils/leadership groups — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found of a formal student advisory council or student leadership body in Fayetteville, AR schools (distinguish from same-named councils in other 'Fayette/Fayetteville' districts).
- 10.2 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Student feedback informs policy/procedures — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found that student feedback formally informs FPS policy.
- 10.3 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Students facilitate restorative processes — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found of students facilitating restorative processes themselves.
- 10.4 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Student-led peer education — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found of a student-led peer education program.
- 12.1 [Continuous Evaluation & Improvement]: Standing committee/task force for discipline equity — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation found of a standing FPS committee or task force specifically dedicated to discipline equity (as distinct from the one-time 2021 disproportionality report team).
- EC5 [Extra Credit]: Describe additional policy… — Currently: Not rated (0/2 pts). No rationale recorded.
- 1.1 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mandatory cultural competency training for all staff — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). News reporting confirms the district issued a training guide to teachers/administrators as part of a district-wide initiative addressing discipline disparities, but no dedicated 'mandatory cultural competency training for all staff' program was found. https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2026/sep/01/fayetteville-public-schools-named-as-target-in/
- 1.3 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Culturally relevant PD resources in staff learning — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). District's Moodle staff PD platform lists English Learner diversity training among available courses, but scope/mandatory status for culturally relevant PD district-wide is unclear.
- 2.3 [Clear & Consistent Policies]: Staff training on consistent application — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Superintendent stated the district has done work to ensure consistency: <cite index="57-11">"We've done a lot of work over the last three years around shoring up our discipline policies to ensure consistency, regardless of race, gender, grade level," Mulford said.</cite> No specific mandatory training curriculum documentation was found.
- 2.4 [Clear & Consistent Policies]: Centralized documentation of incidents/outcomes — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). State law requires standardized, centralized discipline incident reporting by all AR districts including Fayetteville, viewable via ADE's My School Info portal, though this is a state system rather than a confirmed district-specific internal database.
- 4.1 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Implicit bias training for staff — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district's disproportionality plan recommended and implemented <cite index="76-5">implementing restorative practices, additional staff training and emphasizing replacement social skills for students over demonstrating undesirable behavior</cite>, related to bias awareness, but a distinct 'implicit bias training' program was not separately confirmed.
- 4.3 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Cultural competence checks in hiring — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). State law <cite index="202-1">requires that all public school districts and open enrollment charter schools create and post to its website a three-year Teacher and Administrator Recruitment and Retention Plan</cite> addressing minority hiring goals; FPS HR also designates an Equity/Title VI Coordinator, but a specific 'cultural competence check' step in hiring was not confirmed.
- 5.2 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Teacher PD on integrating diverse perspectives — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). District PD platform includes an English Learner diversity training course for staff, suggesting some PD on diverse perspectives, though scope is unclear.
- 5.3 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Community collaboration for supplemental resources — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The Foundation funds teacher-initiated projects district-wide with an equity focus: <cite index="129-1,129-2">The Fayetteville Public Education Foundation provides our students with extraordinary educational opportunities by fostering strategic partnerships and investing in innovative programs championed by our educators. Projects with the greatest consideration demonstrate educational e…
- 6.1 [Community Engagement & Collaboration]: Regular meetings with parents & community leaders — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The <cite index="14-9">members of the board meet regularly on the fourth Thursday of each month...in the Adams Leadership Center</cite> and are open to the public, and schools maintain PTOs, but no dedicated regular community-leader engagement forum was confirmed.
- 7.1 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Ongoing anti-bias/equity training — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). District implemented additional teacher training tied to bias/disproportionality after the 2021 report, but no confirmed ongoing/annual anti-bias training cadence district-wide.
- 7.2 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Workshops on culturally responsive teaching — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Moodle-hosted PD includes English Learner diversity training relevant to culturally responsive teaching, though breadth/mandate status is unconfirmed.
- 7.3 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Equity topics in staff meetings/PD — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Some equity-adjacent PD content exists via Moodle courses, but no evidence found that equity is a standing agenda item in regular staff meetings.
- 8.3 [Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices]: Trauma-informed staff training — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). State-level trauma-informed training resources (Arkansas AWARE, ATRIS) are available to FPS staff, but district-specific mandatory participation was not confirmed.
- 11.2 [Equitable Access to Support Services]: Targeted academic support (e.g., tutoring) — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Third-party academic profile describes district practice: <cite index="124-16">Academic Improvement Plans and Intensive Reading Interventions are developed when students are making insufficient academic gains.</cite> No dedicated district-run tutoring program page was found directly on fayar.net.
- 11.4 [Equitable Access to Support Services]: Systems to remove access barriers — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). District programs address language/access barriers, e.g., <cite index="138-6">Fayetteville Public School's Adult Education program offers English learning classes and American Citizenship classes, as well as job training, high school diploma equivalency classes</cite>, but no comprehensive barrier-removal policy statement was found.
- 12.2 [Continuous Evaluation & Improvement]: Surveys/focus groups (students, families, staff) — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). District has used stakeholder surveys for major decisions, e.g. during its superintendent search: <cite index="176-4">Through a survey, the community, from teachers, staff, parents and principals were involved in having a say in what they would like to see with the next superintendent.</cite> No evidence of recurring discipline-specific surveys was found.
- 12.4 [Continuous Evaluation & Improvement]: PD & reflective practice culture — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The mandatory annual discipline-policy review by the licensed personnel policy committee, combined with the district's Moodle-based ongoing PD system, suggests a baseline reflective-practice culture, though no dedicated 'continuous improvement' framework was confirmed.
- EC2 [Extra Credit]: District-dedicated education foundation that prioritizes 'educational equity' as a funding criterion for teacher-initiated innovation grants — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The Foundation explicitly states that 'Projects with the greatest consideration demonstrate educational equity' when awarding grants to FPS teachers.
- EC3 [Extra Credit]: Long-running, multi-provider embedded mental health partnership model (rather than a single vendor), giving families choice of on-site therapeutic providers — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). District proactively invited multiple providers to lease space and bill insurance directly, reducing cost burden on the district while expanding options for families.