Original Research by School Decision on Kipp Booker T. Washington
KIPP Booker T. Washington is a high school district in Orleans Parish that serves grades nine through twelve with a single campus, Booker T. Washington High School. A family considering this school is looking at a high school of modest size for its grade band, one where nearly all students are Black and a small share are Hispanic, with very small numbers of white, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and multiracial students. The enrollment is distributed fairly evenly across the four grade levels, which suggests a stable student body rather than one that swells or shrinks sharply between freshman and senior year.
The academic picture here is thin in the available data. State testing results for proficiency across subjects and grades were not reported in the information we have, so it is not possible to position this school against others in Orleans Parish on test performance. The comparison set that is available, which places KIPP Booker T. Washington among the seventy-one districts in the parish, has no proficiency index and no four-year graduation rate to work with. This absence often reflects the nature of a single-school charter district, where the data may be reported at the school level rather than the district level, but the data provided does not confirm that. A parent who wants a clear sense of academic attainment would need to seek out the school-level state test results directly from the state or from the school’s own reporting.
What the comparison data does show is a chronic absenteeism rate that falls in the bottom quartile among the parish’s districts, with a rate well above the median for the county. This is a soft spot, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what drives it and what supports are in place. Per-pupil current spending sits in the middle range, lower half, at roughly the midpoint of the county’s districts. That figure suggests a level of resource allocation that is neither unusually lean nor unusually generous for the area.
The district brief, based on publicly reported information, describes existing programs including a partnership with Bard Early College and career pathways, but we found no confirmed changes within a recent time frame that clear a lasting-impact bar. That means the program offerings that are described are likely still in place, but a parent should confirm current course availability and any dual-enrollment or career and technical education options directly with the school.
The broader context of Orleans Parish is one of a school choice landscape where families often have many options. A district with a single high school and a single campus may carry less administrative complexity than larger districts, but that structure also means whatever is happening at Booker T. Washington High School is the whole picture. Without state test results, the primary available indicator of student experience is the absenteeism figure, which is a notable concern. A family weighing this school would want to visit, talk to current students and parents, and ask directly about academic expectations, graduation rates, college-going patterns, and the daily school climate.
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