Gonzales Primary School, Gonzales LA

Original Research by School Decision on Gonzales Primary School

Gonzales Primary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the city of Gonzales, which sits on Interstate 10 between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The school is part of the Ascension Parish school system. The city itself is growing quickly, with a mix of residential subdivisions and a busy commercial corridor along Highway 30 and Airline Highway, anchored by the Tanger Outlets and a range of national retailers and medical facilities. Gonzales is a car-dependent, suburban place; there is no fixed-route transit and walkability is limited. Housing values in the area have been rising, and a substantial flow of new industrial investment in the broader parish is expected to keep demand strong.

The school has an enrollment that is diverse. A majority of students are Black, a substantial share are Hispanic, and smaller groups are white or identify as two or more races. A large portion of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. The school does not report its count of students with individualized education programs or English learners, so a parent seeking that information would need to ask the school directly.

On state assessments, Gonzales Primary’s results show strengths and areas that families will want to weigh. In English language arts, about two in five students scored at the proficient level or above, a figure that lands close to what many schools in the state report. Math proficiency is similar, with a comparable share of students meeting the bar. Science and social studies are lower, with fewer than one in three students reaching proficiency in science and fewer than one in four in social studies. A parent looking at these numbers should keep in mind that the social studies assessment had a cut-score change this year, which may affect comparability with prior results, though the school has only a single year of data for all subjects, so no trend line is available. Participation rates on the tests were very high, which means the results reflect nearly the entire tested population.

Because Gonzales Primary is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to report. The school’s grade band means that measures like AP course access or college-going rates simply do not apply. The comparison set that would normally place this school relative to other districts in Ascension Parish consists of only that single district, so no meaningful comparative positioning is possible.

The district itself did not generate a parent-relevant change notice from the recent search, so there is no announced shift in boundaries, programs, or leadership to report. A family choosing this school is selecting a regular public elementary in a growing, suburban city with a diverse student body and a mixed academic picture. English language arts and math proficiency are in the middle range, while science and social studies present a softer spot that a parent may want to discuss with the school to understand what supports are in place. The school sits on North Burnside Avenue in Gonzales, near the commercial hub of the city, and serves as one of the elementary feeders into the Ascension Parish secondary system.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grades 3-843%

School 43% · District 51% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

English language arts

Grades 3-844%

School 44% · District 60% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 15 pts below county median

Science

Grades 3-827%

School 27% · District 46% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

Social studies

Grades 3-824%

School 24% · District 49% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

This schoolAscension Parish, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income51%Higher-income33%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income48%Higher-income54%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income31%Higher-income54%23 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income43%Higher-income49%6 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income46%Higher-income50%4 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income73%37 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income32%Higher-income46%14 pp gap

Grades 3-8Lower-income39%Higher-income59%20 pp gap