The top reported proficiency rate is 24% in Math. The lowest is 11% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on J.w. Faulk Elementary School
J.W. Faulk Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in Lafayette, Louisiana. It is part of the Lafayette Parish school system, which encompasses the city of Lafayette and its surrounding communities. The school sits in the city of Lafayette, a mid-sized consolidated city-parish that functions as the economic and cultural hub of southern Louisiana’s Acadiana region. The broader economy has diversified from its oil-and-gas origins into technology, healthcare, banking, retail, and aerospace, with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette serving as a major civic and educational anchor in the city.
Faulk Elementary has a student enrollment that is small relative to many elementary schools in its grade band. The student body is predominantly Black, with a small number of Hispanic students, a very small number of white students, and a handful of students identifying as two or more races or as Asian. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that the school serves a population with high economic need. Data on the number of students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available.
State assessment results from the LEAP 2025 tests show that the school is working from a low starting point academically. The proficiency rate in math was below a quarter of students tested, and in English language arts it was similarly low. Science proficiency was lower than both math and ELA, and social studies proficiency was the lowest of the four subjects tested. Looking across all tested subjects, the school’s overall proficiency places it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Lafayette Parish. Test participation was at its highest possible level, which means the results reflect the performance of nearly every student in the tested grades rather than just a subset. Because only a single year of data is available for these assessments, there is no trend to indicate whether performance is improving or declining.
The school building is located on East Willow Street, a residential street on the south side of the city of Lafayette, not far from the Vermilion River. Lafayette is predominantly car-dependent, with a walkable downtown core and a pedestrian-scaled area near the university, but most residential areas require a vehicle for daily errands. Faulk Elementary sits in an older neighborhood of the city, and the surrounding housing stock is modest in value compared to state benchmarks. Housing values in the area have declined over the past year, while rents have increased slightly. The area is more affordable than both the state and national housing markets.
For families considering this school, the academic picture is one of low current performance across all subjects. A parent may want to look into what academic support programs and interventions the school provides for students who are not yet at grade level. Faulk Elementary does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. The school is also not a charter or magnet school, so it draws its students from its assigned attendance zone within the Lafayette Parish district. No information was available about after-school programs, enrichment offerings, or any specialized academic pathways, and no recent district-level changes were identified that would alter the school’s operations or priorities in a meaningful way.
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