The top reported proficiency rate is 22% in Math. The lowest is 20% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Shirley Johnson/gretna Park Elementary School
Shirley Johnson/Gretna Park Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Gretna, a city that functions as both a suburb of New Orleans and the parish seat of Jefferson Parish. The school is a regular public school within the Jefferson Parish Public School System, and it is not a charter or magnet school. The school is located on Gretna Boulevard, in a part of the city that mixes residential neighborhoods with commercial districts.
The student body is large for an elementary school, and it is diverse. Hispanic students make up the largest share of enrollment, followed by Black students, with smaller numbers of white, Asian, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which places the school in a working-class economic context. The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, and enrollment is distributed fairly evenly across the elementary grades.
State assessment results from the LEAP 2025 tests show that proficiency rates across math, English language arts, science, and social studies are all in a similar range. In each subject, about one in five students scored at the proficient level or above. This is a consistent pattern across all four tested subjects. The school had full participation in testing, so the results reflect nearly the entire student body in the tested grades. Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and the school does not have data on chronic absenteeism or other secondary-level metrics.
The school is part of the Jefferson Parish Public School System, a district that has been undergoing significant changes. A school consolidation plan was approved in 2023, involving closures, mergers, and redrawn attendance zones across both the East Bank and West Bank of the parish. The district also approved budget cuts for the 2024-2025 school year, citing declining enrollment and state funding shortfalls, with reductions in central office staff, transportation, and programs. On the positive side, the district adopted a new evidence-based reading curriculum beginning in the 2023-2024 school year, and it received a federal grant in 2023 to enhance STEM education across multiple schools. These district-level shifts may affect Gretna Park families, particularly around attendance zones and transportation.
Gretna itself is a mix of residential neighborhoods and commercial districts, with a historic downtown that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It serves as the parish seat, so the Jefferson Parish Government Center is a major employer and civic anchor. The city has a working-class character, and the school's free and reduced-price lunch rate reflects that. Housing values in the area are near the state benchmark, and rents are moderate relative to national medians. The city was severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina, and its population has grown modestly since then.
For a family considering this school, the academic picture is straightforward. Proficiency rates on state assessments are low across all subjects, with roughly one in five students meeting the proficient benchmark. This is a consistent pattern, not a variation by subject. The school has a large, diverse student body, and a substantial share of families qualify for economic support. The district is in a period of consolidation and budget tightening, which may affect school resources, attendance zones, and transportation. The school itself is a regular elementary school with no special magnet or charter designation, and it serves its neighborhood in Gretna. A parent may want to look into the school's specific academic support programs and how the district's consolidation plan might affect this school's attendance boundaries or resources in the coming years.
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