Summary:
Oak Grove High School is the sole high school serving West Carroll Parish, Louisiana, a rural district ranked 63rd out of 116 in the state. This single school serves grades 6 through 12 with 500 students, and it presents a fascinating paradox: it achieves strong academic outcomes and a stellar 94.4% graduation rate, yet struggles with a chronic absenteeism rate of 27.2%—significantly higher than the state average of 22.5%.
Academically, Oak Grove High School outperforms both its district and state averages in core subjects like Math, English Language Arts, and Social Studies for all grades. However, its state ranking dropped from the 65th percentile (3 stars) in 2024-2025 to the 48th percentile (2 stars) in 2025-2026, even as its own test scores improved. This suggests that while the school is getting better, other schools across Louisiana are improving at a faster pace. The school’s dropout rate is a mere 0.3%, dramatically lower than the state’s 3.1%, and its student-teacher ratio is 19.3:1, with 73.2% of students economically disadvantaged.
Key areas of concern include significant volatility in End-of-Course (EOC) exams. English I proficiency plummeted from 81% to 56% year-over-year, and U.S. History remains a persistent weakness at 39-45% proficiency. All EOC subjects declined, contradicting the improvement seen in lower-grade LEAP tests. The school excels in middle grades (6-8), with 6th graders achieving 89% proficiency in ELA and 83% in Math, but performance dips in high school coursework. The overall takeaway is that Oak Grove is a high-performing rural school that must address chronic absenteeism and accelerate high school academic improvement to keep pace with the rest of Louisiana.
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