John J. Johnson II Elementary School

John J. Johnson II Elementary School is a small, early-elementary school in Lake Charles, LA, serving 131 students from Pre-Kindergarten through 2nd grade, and it faces profound challenges due to an extremely high concentration of poverty, with nearly 97% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. This school, part of the Calcasieu Parish district, ranks in the 8th percentile statewide, and its academic performance is well below district and state averages—for example, only 42% of students were proficient in Mathematics compared to 71% district-wide. A key internal challenge is chronic absenteeism, which at 27.1% is significantly higher than both the district (20.9%) and state (22.5%) averages, a trend that has persisted for years and directly impacts learning.

The school’s unique grade configuration (PK-2) makes direct comparisons with nearby schools difficult, but the contrast with T. S. Cooley Elementary Magnet School, just 2.66 miles away, is striking. While Johnson has a 96.95% poverty rate and struggles to reach 50% proficiency, Cooley has a 15% poverty rate and ranks in the 100th percentile, with 100% proficiency in Math and ELA. This stark difference highlights how concentrated poverty creates vastly different educational environments, even within the same district. Despite these challenges, there is a glimmer of hope: 50% of Johnson’s 3rd graders were proficient in Mathematics, which is higher than at nearby T. H. Watkins Elementary School (44%) and Lake Charles Charter Academy (37%), suggesting foundational math skills in early grades may be a relative strength.

However, the school faces a "5th grade cliff," where proficiency drops sharply from 50% in 3rd grade Math to just 27% in 5th grade, a common pattern in high-poverty schools due to cumulative learning gaps. The school benefits from a favorable student-to-teacher ratio of 10.8:1, lower than nearby schools like Combre-Fondel Elementary School (13.8:1), but the immense challenges of poverty and absenteeism appear to overwhelm this resource. Overall, the school’s low performance across all subgroups—including Female, Male, African American, Special Education, and Low Socio-Economic Status students—indicates a systemic need for comprehensive wraparound support services to address barriers to learning both inside and outside the classroom.