Tensas Parish

The Tensas Parish school district in Louisiana serves just 301 students across two schools: Tensas Elementary School (grades PK-5) and Tensas High School (grades 6-12), with over 94% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch, placing the district in the 11th percentile statewide with a 1-star rating.

Tensas Elementary School stands out as the district's relative bright spot, achieving proficiency rates of 57% in Math and 63% in ELA for the 2025-2026 school year—significantly higher than the district averages. The elementary school also earned a 3-star rating in the two prior years, a notable achievement in a 1-star district. Its chronic absenteeism rate of 26.1% is much lower than the high school's crisis-level 39.9% and only slightly above the state average. In contrast, Tensas High School faces severe academic challenges, with End-of-Course exam proficiency rates as low as 5% in Geometry and 23% in U.S. History. Despite these struggles, the high school maintains an 85.7% graduation rate and a very low 1.1% dropout rate, suggesting it successfully keeps students enrolled even as academic proficiency remains a major hurdle.

The most critical finding is the sharp academic decline between schools: students at Tensas Elementary outperform their high school counterparts in every subject, pointing to a potential breakdown in instructional continuity after 5th grade. The high school's 39.9% chronic absenteeism rate—nearly double the state average—is almost certainly the primary driver of low test scores. While both schools benefit from small class sizes (8.6:1 at the high school, 12.8:1 at the elementary), these resources alone cannot overcome the challenges of high poverty and absenteeism. Any improvement plan must treat these two schools as separate problems requiring different solutions, with the high school's attendance crisis demanding immediate attention.