The top reported proficiency rate is 22% in Math. The lowest is 5% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Barkdull Faulk Elementary School
Barkdull Faulk Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school in the City of Monroe School District. It sits on Jackson Street in Monroe, the parish seat of Ouachita Parish and the economic and cultural center of northeastern Louisiana. Monroe is a mid‑sized city whose population has been in long‑term decline; its economy is anchored by public sector employers including the school district itself, healthcare systems, the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and a corporate presence from Lumen Technologies. The city is spread out and auto‑oriented, though it operates one of the nation’s oldest municipally owned transit systems with over a dozen bus routes. Housing values in the area are well below national medians, and home prices have been softening recently.
The student body is small and almost entirely Black. A very high share of students qualify for free or reduced‑price lunch, reflecting the high‑poverty context of the surrounding neighborhood. The school has a nearly universal participation rate on state assessments, so the results below represent nearly all enrolled students in the tested grades.
Academic performance on Louisiana’s LEAP 2025 assessments is low across all four tested subjects. In both math and English language arts, about one in five students scored at the proficient level or above. Proficiency in science is very low, and in social studies it is similar. When compared with other school districts in Ouachita Parish, this school’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint of the cohort. Because the school serves only elementary and middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and data on chronic absenteeism was not available for this profile.
The school does not have a charter or magnet designation, and its Title I status was not listed in the available directory information. No information was found on program offerings such as gifted or special education services, course access beyond the regular curriculum, or discipline patterns. Parents who want to understand the full range of academic and behavioral supports may wish to ask the school directly. Similarly, no recent district‑level changes that would meet the threshold of a four‑year lasting impact were identified in the search, so the broader district context appears stable at this point.
For a family considering this school, the central facts are clear. The student population is nearly uniformly low‑income and Black, and the school’s academic results are well below state averages in every tested subject. The housing market in Monroe is relatively affordable, but the city’s population and property values have been contracting, not growing. A parent looking at Barkdull Faulk Elementary should expect a small, high‑poverty school where the majority of students are not yet reaching grade‑level standards, and may want to explore what interventions and enrichment options are in place.
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