Willow Charter Academy

Willow Charter Academy is a single elementary and middle school in Lafayette, LA, serving 605 students in grades Kindergarten through 8th grade, and is part of the Willow Charter Academy district, which holds a 4-star rating and ranks in the 69th percentile among Louisiana districts.

This school stands out for its exceptional performance in Mathematics, where 75% of students scored proficient or above in the 2025-2026 school year, significantly outpacing the state average of 62%. This strength is especially notable in 3rd grade (78% proficient) and 6th grade (82% proficient). However, the school faces a clear challenge in Social Studies, where overall proficiency (49%) falls below the state average (55%), with particularly low scores in 7th grade (32%) and 8th grade (42%). English Language Arts performance is right at the state average (71% vs. 70%). The school has shown a positive trend, improving its state ranking from the 47th percentile (2 stars) in 2023-2024 to the 58th percentile (3 stars) in 2025-2026, a jump of 65 places.

A key takeaway is the school's ability to achieve above-average math scores despite serving a very high-needs population, with 98.18% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. This suggests an effective math curriculum or targeted interventions. Another interesting finding is the "6th grade peak," where 6th graders outperform all other grades in every subject, including a standout 89% proficiency in English Language Arts. The school also has a very high student-teacher ratio of 34.4:1 and a chronic absenteeism rate of 24.6%, which is above the state average. Despite these challenges, the school maintains a low dropout rate of 0.9%, well below the state average of 3.1%.