FPS was chartered by the state of Arkansas in 1871, which makes it the first chartered school district in the state.
Fayetteville was the first school district in the South to voluntarily integrate its schools following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. The school district was integrated without incident only three months after the decision was handed down.
FPS operates 15 campuses, with more than 1.4 million square feet of floor space, on 290 acres of property, educating approximately 8,400 students, and supported by 1,288 staff members.
In 2007, Sports Illustrated ranked the Fayetteville High School athletic program as the #1 athletic program in Arkansas for the third consecutive year. SI also ranked FHS as the 19th best in the U.S. in 2005.
Newsweek magazine ranked Fayetteville High School as one of the top 4% of high schools in the U.S. in 2005, based on the number and outcome of Advanced Placement exams taken by FHS students.
Fayetteville High School annually leads the state in the number of Advanced Placement Scholars.
The FHS Band was selected to march in the 2005 Fiesta Bowl Parade, and was the first band from Northwest Arkansas to march in the Tournament of Roses Parade in January, 2006. The band has also been selected to return to New York to march in the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Fayetteville annually has a greater percentage of its students accepted to the Arkansas Governor's School than does any other school district in the state.
Fayetteville High School annually has the highest average ACT score of any high school in Arkansas.
Our Gifted & Talented Education Program was named the best in Arkansas in 2004. It was the fourth time the program has received the award in the last twelve years.
Fayetteville High School graduates are annually accepted into the finest universities in the nation, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt, Vassar, Princeton, and all three military academies.