Winn Parish

The Winn Parish school district in Louisiana serves approximately 1,732 students across five schools, including one elementary, one middle, one high, and two alternative schools, and faces significant challenges with chronic absenteeism and poverty.

Among the schools, Calvin High School stands out as the academic leader, achieving the highest proficiency rates in English Language Arts (74%) and Mathematics (58%), along with the district's best graduation rate (94.7%) and lowest chronic absenteeism (26.8%). In contrast, Winnfield High School is a rising star, improving its state ranking from the 40th to the 58th percentile over three years and earning a 3-star rating, with strong End-of-Course exam results in Algebra I (78% proficient) and English I (74% proficient). However, Winnfield Primary School is in decline, dropping from the 39th to the 15th percentile in state rankings, with proficiency rates below district and state averages and a chronic absenteeism rate of 40.7%. Winnfield Middle School shows mixed results, with strong ELA scores (61%) but weak math performance (46%), particularly in 5th grade (33% proficient).

A critical district-wide issue is chronic absenteeism, which averages 40.8%—nearly double the state average of 22.5%—with Winnfield High School the worst at 50.1%. Social Studies is a universal weakness, with the district average of 42% falling 13 points below the state average, and no school meeting the state benchmark. Interestingly, the alternative schools, including Dodson High School, often outperform traditional schools, likely due to smaller class sizes (as low as 10:1 at Dodson) and tailored instruction. Inconsistent performance by grade level, such as 92% ELA proficiency in 6th grade at Dodson versus 14% in 7th-grade Social Studies, suggests teacher quality varies significantly across classrooms.