The top reported proficiency rate is 33% in English language arts. The lowest is 9% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Mansfield Middle School
Mansfield Middle School serves grades five through eight in the small city of Mansfield, the seat of DeSoto Parish in northwestern Louisiana. The school is a regular public school, neither a charter nor a magnet. The population of Mansfield has been declining for decades; the city has a substantial share of residents who identify as Black or African American, and about a quarter of households include children.
The school’s enrollment of roughly three hundred and forty students is overwhelmingly Black, with a small white and multiracial minority. A very large majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a strong signal that the school serves a high-poverty community. Data on special education and English learner enrollment was not available.
On the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, the LEAP 2025, Mansfield Middle School’s proficiency rates in the 2024-25 school year were low across all tested subjects. In math, about one in eleven students scored proficient or above. In English language arts, about one in three did. In science and social studies, the rates were lower, roughly one in five and one in six, respectively. Participation was full, which means almost every student took the exams. Only a single year’s data was available, so no trend could be established.
Parents moving into the area or considering the school should note that these proficiency numbers place the school’s academic performance in a tier that likely lags behind many other middle schools in the state. The comparison fact-set was not able to place Mansfield Middle relative to other districts in De Soto Parish because it is the only district in the parish, so there was no in-county peer group. The data provided no information on course offerings, teacher staffing, or disciplinary rates, all of which would help a parent better understand the daily environment.
The surrounding community context matters here. Mansfield’s population decline over several decades has left a housing stock with a notable vacancy rate. A modest share of homes are owner-occupied; many are rentals. The housing market is affordable relative to both the state and national benchmarks, with a median home value well below the typical figures for Louisiana and the country. The economic base appears thin: a nursing facility and parish government are among the known employers, and no major recent development or growth initiatives were found in publicly reported information. The Mansfield State Historic Site is a few miles south of the city, but detailed information about parks, libraries, or transit was not available.
The district brief turned up no recent changes or initiatives that could be confirmed. That leaves the school’s standing to be judged almost entirely on the state test data and the demographics of its students. For a family that is deciding between schools, the proficiency rates are the most concrete signal available, and they indicate that the typical student at Mansfield Middle is not reaching grade-level expectations in any of the four core subjects tested. A parent would want to investigate what academic support programs, tutoring, or intervention structures the school offers, and whether the district has any turnaround or improvement plan in place. The school’s small size and the community’s long population decline suggest a stable but constrained setting.
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