The top reported proficiency rate is 14% in English language arts. The lowest is 7% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Winnsboro Elementary School
Winnsboro Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in the seat of Franklin Parish. The school is a regular public institution within the Franklin Parish school district. Its enrollment is spread across these elementary grades, with the largest groups in kindergarten and first grade.
The student body is overwhelmingly African American, with a very small share of white students and a small number of students identifying as two or more races. Hispanic students make up a tiny fraction of the population, and there are no Asian, Native American, or Native Hawaiian students recorded. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
State testing data for the 2024-25 school year shows the school's performance on Louisiana's LEAP 2025 assessments across grades three through eight. In English language arts, the share of students scoring at the proficient level or above was modest. In mathematics, that share was lower. Results in science and social studies were also low. Because the data covers only a single school year, there is no trend line to indicate whether these scores reflect a recent change or a longer-standing pattern. The multi-year academic trends data contains only that one year for each subject, so a parent cannot see improvement or decline over time. No graduation rate is reported because the school does not serve high school grades. Data on special education identification and English learner status was not available, and no information was provided about discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, or staffing.
The school sits in the town of Winnsboro, a small, agriculturally based parish seat founded on cotton. The economic base includes light industry such as apparel, boat manufacturing, bottling, food products, and aviation, alongside agriculture-related businesses and a large grain elevator. Franklin Medical Center, a 39-bed acute care facility with several clinics, is a major employer. The Louisiana National Guard also maintains a unit in town. The town is small and car-dependent, accessible only by road, with several highways running through it. Civic and cultural life centers on Front Street, where City Hall, the restored Princess Theatre, and the Old Post Office Museum are located. Downtown events like the Franklin Parish Catfish Festival draw community participation. The town has a collection of public parks and a landmark called Patriot Square.
Winnsboro's population has been declining. Much of the town's infrastructure dates from the early to mid-twentieth century. No major new housing developments were identified in publicly available sources. The Franklin Parish School Board manages public education in the town, and there are also private school options, including Franklin Academy and Family Community Christian School, for families who choose that path. Louisiana Technical College's Northeast Louisiana Campus is also located in Winnsboro. No parent-relevant changes or strategic initiatives for the district were found in publicly available sources, so that topic is left alone rather than guessed at.
For a family considering this school, the picture is straightforward. The school serves a community facing economic challenges, as reflected in the high rate of students qualifying for meal assistance. The state assessment results point to an academic starting point where most students are not yet meeting proficiency benchmarks in any of the tested subjects. A parent may want to look into this further with the school, asking about specific instructional supports, intervention programs, and how the school approaches early literacy and math foundations in the primary grades. The town itself offers a small-town, rural setting with a sense of local identity and a handful of cultural anchors, but it is not a place of growth or new housing development. The comparison set within Franklin Parish contains only one district, so no relative positioning among neighboring districts is possible.
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