The top reported proficiency rate is 26% in English language arts. The lowest is 15% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Red River Junior High School
Red River Junior High School serves grades six through eight in Coushatta, the parish seat of rural Red River Parish in north Louisiana. The town sits on the east bank of the Red River, roughly 45 miles south of Shreveport along U.S. Highway 71. Coushatta has experienced long-term population decline, a demographic trend common in rural north Louisiana as residents move toward larger metropolitan areas. The town’s housing stock is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks. The local economy is anchored by a small hospital, the school district itself, and town government; no large private-sector employers were identified in publicly available sources. The school is one of three zoned campuses in the Red River Parish School District, sitting alongside an elementary school and a senior high school within the small-town footprint.
The student body at Red River Junior High is predominantly Black, with a sizable White population and a small share of students identifying as two or more races. A very substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a level that is high even for a rural Louisiana parish. Data on special education and English learner populations was not reported in the available state data, which is a gap a family might want to discuss directly with the school.
On the Louisiana LEAP 2025 assessments, the school’s proficiency rates across tested subjects were low. In English language arts, about a quarter of students scored at the proficient level or above. In math, the share was lower, and science and social studies results were also low. Participation rates on the tests were very high, so the results reflect nearly the entire student body. The available testing data covers only one school year, so there is no multi-year trend to assess whether performance is improving or declining. The comparison fact-set for districts in Red River Parish could not position the school relative to neighboring districts because there is only one district in the parish, making a within-county comparison not applicable.
The district publicly describes an academic turnaround, referred to as a “Comeback Story,” that involved moving from among the lowest-performing districts in Louisiana to significant improvement through new curriculum, instructional coaching, and data-driven interventions. How this turnaround effort has translated specifically into the junior high school’s current classroom experience is not detailed in the available public materials, but it indicates that the district has been actively working on instructional reform. A parent may want to ask the school about how this turnaround approach is showing up in the sixth through eighth grade classrooms and what the early results have been.
Red River Junior High is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. The school environment data that is often used to assess school quality, such as chronic absenteeism rates, discipline data, and staffing ratios, was not available in the reported data. For a family considering this school, these are meaningful gaps. The school’s grade band of six through eight means it does not have a graduation rate, as that metric applies only to high schools.
Coushatta’s downtown and civic institutions are integrated within a compact rural setting, and the school buildings are part of that fabric. The town’s walkability is limited, consistent with its low density and auto-oriented layout. The overall picture is of a small, academically struggling junior high school in a shrinking rural parish, where the district has made a publicly stated commitment to instructional improvement and where a family would want to learn more about how that improvement effort is reaching the middle-grade classrooms. The school is best understood as a place where the need for academic support is acute and where the district’s recent reform story may or may not yet have produced noticeable gains at the junior high level.
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