Middle Schools in Grant Parish

Grant Parish, Louisiana, is home to a single middle school, Grant Junior High School, which serves grades 6 through 8 with a total enrollment of 438 students. The school is part of the Grant Parish school district, which holds a 3-star rating and ranks 45th out of 116 districts in the state. While the school boasts a perfect 0% dropout rate and a favorable student-teacher ratio of 12.3:1, its overall state ranking has been declining over the past three years, currently sitting at 308th out of 452 Louisiana middle schools (32nd percentile, 2-star rating).

A standout strength for Grant Junior High School is its performance in English Language Arts (ELA), where 71% of students are proficient—matching the state average and nearly equaling the district's 72% rate. This makes ELA the only subject where the school meets or exceeds state benchmarks. However, the school faces significant challenges in mathematics, particularly in 8th grade, where only 34% of students are proficient compared to the state average of 52%. Overall math proficiency sits at 49%, well below the state's 62%, and social studies proficiency is 43% against a state average of 55%. The most alarming metric is the chronic absenteeism rate of 32.3%, which is substantially higher than both the district (25.3%) and state (22.5%) averages.

An interesting finding is the sharp decline in math proficiency from 6th grade (57%) to 8th grade (34%), which may be linked to the high chronic absenteeism rate, as math is a cumulative subject where missing lessons has a cascading effect. Additionally, while the school keeps all students enrolled with a 0% dropout rate, its declining state ranking suggests it is not keeping pace with academic improvements at other Louisiana middle schools. The social studies data shows an anomaly where 8th-grade proficiency (49%) is notably higher than 6th and 7th-grade scores (both 41%), possibly reflecting a stronger curriculum or cohort in that grade. With 68.26% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, the school serves a predominantly low-income community, making its ELA success a potential model for improving other subjects.