The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in English language arts. The lowest is 17% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Arcadia High School
Arcadia High School serves grades six through twelve in the small rural town of Arcadia, the parish seat of Bienville Parish in northern Louisiana. The school is part of the Bienville Parish district and shares a campus complex with Crawford Elementary School, located in a residential section of Arcadia rather than the downtown area. This is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet school.
The student body is relatively small for a combined middle and high school. The racial and ethnic composition is predominantly Black, with a much smaller White population and very small shares of students who are Hispanic, Asian, or of two or more races. A large majority of students come from low-income households, as measured by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available in the source data.
The town of Arcadia has experienced long-term population decline since a mid-twentieth-century peak, and the local economy has been shaped by poultry processing and parish government functions. Housing values in the area are well below national and state benchmarks. The town’s historic commercial district, centered near the Bienville Parish Courthouse, the depot museum, and the library, provides some civic and cultural activity, including monthly bluegrass performances. Public transit is minimal. The district itself did not have any major parent-relevant changes reported in publicly available sources in recent years.
On Louisiana’s LEAP 2025 assessments, Arcadia High School’s proficiency rates, which measure the share of students scoring at the highest two levels, were low across all tested subjects for the combined grades three through eight cohort. In English language arts, about a third of students reached proficiency. In math, about a fifth were proficient. In science and social studies, proficiency rates were lower, in the range of roughly a sixth of students. Because the school serves grades six through twelve, these results capture only the middle-grade portion of the enrollment; high school assessments are separate and were not included in the data provided. A parent may want to ask the school directly about high school-level test performance.
Multi-year trend data show only the most recent year of results, so it is not possible to determine whether performance has been improving or declining over time. The school’s social studies cut scores changed during the period, which makes the single-year figure less directly comparable to prior years.
Graduation rate data for Arcadia High School were not available in the source materials. The comparison tool that normally places a school’s performance relative to other districts within its county was not applicable here because Bienville Parish has only one district, so there is no local peer set to compare against. This means the proficiency numbers sit on their own, without a neighboring school system as a reference point.
The school environment section, including discipline rates, course access, staffing ratios, and chronic absenteeism, was not populated in the available data. A parent or resident wanting a fuller picture of daily conditions and opportunities at Arcadia High School would need to seek information directly from the school or the Bienville Parish district office. The absence of these common indicators is a gap; it does not in itself signal a problem, but it limits the depth of the snapshot.
Arcadia High School’s academic profile shows a student body facing significant economic disadvantage and a pattern of low proficiency on state assessments. The school offers a combined middle and high school setting in a single rural community. Families considering this school may want to pursue additional details on high school course offerings, college and career preparation programs, graduation rates, and student support services to round out the picture that the available data leaves incomplete.
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