The top reported proficiency rate is 27% in English language arts. The lowest is 13% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on Lawtell Elementary School
Lawtell Elementary School is a public school in the rural unincorporated community of Lawtell, Louisiana, serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The school is part of the St. Landry Parish district. The community itself is a small, highway-oriented census-designated place with a population that saw a modest decline between the last two decennial censuses, and the area is known historically as a location for zydeco music venues. There is no formal downtown, and development is linear along the highway, with minimal pedestrian infrastructure.
The school enrolls a large student body for a PK-8 campus. The student population is diverse, with a majority of students identifying as Black, followed by a sizable minority who are White, and smaller groups who identify as Hispanic or of two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a high level of economic need in the community. Data on the percentage of students receiving special education services or classified as English learners was not available in the datasets reviewed.
On the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) assessments, which are the state’s standardized tests for grades three through eight, Lawtell Elementary’s performance came in well below statewide averages. In English language arts, about a quarter of students scored at the proficient level or above. In mathematics, roughly one in seven students reached that threshold. Proficiency rates were lower in science and social studies, where about one in eight students met the mark. These results represent a single year of data, as multi-year trend information was not available for comparison.
Looking at the school’s performance relative to other districts in St. Landry Parish, the comparison was limited because only one school’s data was available in the cohort for that metric. This means a direct evaluation of how Lawtell Elementary stacks up against other schools in the parish is not possible from the data provided.
Because the school serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, it does not have a graduation rate. The data also did not include information on discipline incidents, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or course access beyond the core tested subjects. A parent or resident may want to ask the school or district office directly about class sizes, the availability of art, music, or physical education, and the school’s approach to supporting students who may be struggling academically.
The St. Landry Parish district, which oversees Lawtell Elementary, did not appear to have any recent widely reported changes with lasting impact on parents, based on the available search results. This absence of information does not mean the district is static, only that no major policy shifts, boundary changes, or program launches were found in the research.
For a family considering Lawtell Elementary, the picture is straightforward. The school serves a high-needs rural population, and its state test scores are low across all subjects. The community is small and lacks the amenities of a larger town, though it sits along a U.S. highway that provides a primary route through the area. The school’s size for its grade band is large, and the peer environment reflects the demographics of the surrounding community. A parent weighing this option would want to understand what academic interventions or enrichment programs are in place and how the school supports students in the early grades through middle school, given the test results.
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