Best Elementary Schools in Monroe, LA

This analysis examines 21 elementary schools in Monroe, Louisiana, serving grades PK-5 across the City of Monroe School District, Ouachita Parish, and two charter networks, revealing a wide range of academic outcomes that are strongly tied to attendance and poverty levels.

The standout school is J.S. Clark Magnet Elementary School, which achieves exceptional results despite serving a high-poverty population, with 94% of students proficient in ELA and a remarkably low chronic absenteeism rate of 5.4%. In contrast, Roy Neal Shelling Senior Elementary and Berg Jones Elementary School are the most struggling, with poverty rates above 95% and proficiency rates as low as 22% in Math. Sallie Humble Elementary School is another high performer within the City of Monroe district, with 82% proficiency in both Math and ELA and a lower poverty rate of 56.65%. Among Ouachita Parish schools, Swayze Elementary School is a notable improver, climbing to the 47th percentile and showing a unique strength in ELA with 75% proficiency despite a 92% poverty rate.

Chronic absenteeism is a critical factor, with the best-performing schools like J.S. Clark and Carver Elementary School having rates under 8%, while the worst, Madison James Foster Elementary School, has a staggering 37.3% rate. The City of Monroe School District shows a stark divide, housing both the city's best and most challenged schools, while Ouachita Parish schools cluster in the lower-middle to middle tier. Academy of Collaborative Education (ACE) stands out with the lowest poverty rate (41.3%) and best student-teacher ratio (8.1), though it lacks test score data for comparison.