The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in Math. The lowest is 9% in Social studies.
Original Research by School Decision on W.p. Foster Elementary School
W.P. Foster Elementary School is a regular public school in Franklin, Louisiana, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of the St. Mary Parish school system. Franklin is a small city and the parish seat, located on Bayou Teche with a historic downtown that includes many preserved nineteenth-century buildings. The surrounding area was historically sugar plantation land, and the city itself functioned as an interior sugar port and later a sawmill town. More recently, Franklin has experienced population decline, and housing vacancy is notable. Home values in the area sit well below national and state benchmarks and have been falling. The city functions as a government and service center for the surrounding rural parish, with the school board and parish government among the likely public-sector employers.
With an enrollment that is on the smaller side for an elementary school covering those grades, Foster serves a student body that is predominantly Black, with smaller shares of white students and students of two or more races. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is very high, indicating a community with high economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available from the source used here.
On the Louisiana state assessments administered in the 2024-25 school year, Foster’s students showed low overall proficiency rates across all tested subjects. In mathematics and English language arts, the share of students reaching the proficient level was well below the state average. Science and social studies proficiency rates were lower still. When compared with other school districts within St. Mary Parish, Foster’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile. These results come from a single year of data, so trends over time are not yet available. A parent may want to follow up with the school to understand what academic supports and interventions are in place.
Because Foster serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. Information about specific programs, such as gifted education, arts, or early childhood offerings, was not found in the data provided. Similarly, data on chronic absenteeism and discipline were absent.
The school is located within Franklin’s built environment, which is low-density and small-town in character. The historic downtown area along Main Street contains the civic core, and the city’s public schools appear to be situated within or near that core rather than on remote campuses. No major new residential development was identified; the city appears to be stable or slowly contracting.
For a family considering this school, the central takeaway is that Foster serves a high-poverty elementary population and that its state test results are low compared with other schools in the parish and the state. The community context is one of a small, historically rooted Louisiana town that is not growing. The school’s size and grade span mean that students will move on to a middle school and high school within the St. Mary Parish system, whose overall performance a family may also want to examine.
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