Summary:
This analysis examines 11 middle schools serving grades 6-8 within the Calcasieu Parish school district in Louisiana, a district ranked 31st out of 116 in the state and earning a 4-star rating.
Among these schools, Moss Bluff Middle School stands out as the top performer, achieving the highest state rank (61st out of 452) and leading in Mathematics (82%) and Social Studies (79%) proficiency. Maplewood Middle School shows the most dramatic improvement, jumping from a 3-star to a 4-star rating while posting the highest English Language Arts proficiency (86%) and the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (11.8%) in the district. S. J. Welsh Middle School, the largest school with 1,011 students, maintains consistent high performance with the lowest dropout rate (0.4%). At the other end, Ray D. Molo Middle Magnet School faces the most significant challenges, with the lowest state rank (359th), highest chronic absenteeism (39.3%), and lowest proficiency rates across all subjects. Oak Park Middle School shows a positive upward trend, moving from a 1-star to a 2-star rating, though it still struggles with low 8th-grade Math (30%) and Social Studies (39%) scores.
A critical finding is that 8th-grade Math is a universal weakness across nearly every school, with even top performers like W. W. Lewis Middle School (66%) and S. J. Welsh (68%) seeing significant drops from 6th and 7th-grade scores. Chronic absenteeism emerges as a key challenge for struggling schools, with Ray D. Molo (39.3%), Oak Park (28.1%), and DeQuincy Middle School (27.4%) all exceeding the district average of 20.9%. Notably, schools that struggle with general LEAP tests often show remarkable success on End-of-Course exams, as seen with F. K. White Middle School achieving 99-100% proficiency on Algebra I and English I exams despite a 57% overall Math rate. Maplewood's trajectory—combining academic gains with the lowest absenteeism—offers a potential model for improvement across the district.
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