The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in English language arts. The lowest is 36% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Forest Heights Academy of Excellence
Forest Heights Academy of Excellence serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Baton Rouge, operating as a regular public elementary school within the East Baton Rouge Parish school system. It is not a charter or magnet school. The school serves a student body that draws from a section of the city where the housing market is relatively affordable, with home values in the area that have seen a modest decline recently.
Academically, the school’s performance on the state’s LEAP 2025 assessments presents a mixed picture with clear strengths. In English language arts, the share of students scoring at proficient or above is strong, and mathematics also shows solid proficiency levels. These two subjects stand as the school’s academic bright spots. Science and social studies results are lower, with a smaller portion of students reaching the proficient threshold. When compared with other elementary schools across East Baton Rouge Parish, Forest Heights Academy of Excellence’s overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile of its peers in the county, a notable achievement given the district’s size. Because state testing data is available only for a single year, there is no trend information to show whether these results represent an improvement or a decline.
The student body is composed overwhelmingly of Black students, with a very small number of students who identify as white or of two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a community where economic need is present but not universal. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available from the source materials; a parent who wants to understand supports for these groups would need to inquire directly with the school. As an elementary school, Forest Heights does not report a graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism data were also missing from the available records.
Baton Rouge itself is Louisiana’s capital, a consolidated city-parish that functions as a government center, a university town anchored by Louisiana State University and Southern University, and an industrial hub along the Mississippi River. The city’s neighborhoods range from historic downtown areas to sprawling suburban developments. The area around the school is car-dependent, like most of the parish, and the broader housing market has seen values that are lower than the state average and have softened recently. The school district, East Baton Rouge Parish, covers the entire city and parish, and no recent district-level policy changes, curriculum shifts, or referendum outcomes were found in publicly reported sources, so families should expect the current arrangements to remain stable in the near term.
No information about school programs, extracurricular offerings, or course access was provided in the data. A parent hoping to learn about after-school activities, enrichment, or specialized instruction would want to look into this further with the school. Similarly, staffing ratios and teacher qualifications were not available. The school’s website may fill in these gaps.
Forest Heights Academy of Excellence fits a family looking for a neighborhood elementary school in a cost-accessible part of Baton Rouge where a child’s reading and math outcomes, as measured on state tests, are comparatively strong relative to other schools in the parish. The lower science and social studies scores suggest that parents may want to understand how the school approaches those subjects and what enrichment is available. The student population is predominantly Black and includes many families with lower incomes, making it a setting where the peer environment reflects that demographic reality. For a family whose priority is a solid foundation in literacy and numeracy at the elementary level, this school presents a reasonable option within the East Baton Rouge Parish system.
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