Tchefuncte Middle School

Tchefuncte Middle School in Mandeville, LA, serves 682 students in grades 4 through 6 and is part of the highly-ranked St. Tammany Parish school district.

This school stands out for its exceptional academic performance, achieving a 90% proficiency rate in Mathematics and an 89% proficiency rate in English Language Arts for the 2025-2026 school year. These scores are well above both the district and state averages. Tchefuncte also excels in Social Studies, with an 80% proficiency rate that is 25 percentage points higher than the state average. Another key differentiator is its remarkably low chronic absenteeism rate of just 11.0%, which is roughly half the district average and significantly lower than nearby schools like Pine View Middle School (27.7%) and William Pitcher Junior High School (25.1%). This low absenteeism rate is a strong indicator of student engagement and a supportive school culture. Tchefuncte is part of a cluster of high-performing schools in the Mandeville area, including Lake Harbor Middle School and Gayle Sloan Middle School, all of which have proficiency rates among the highest in the state.

Interestingly, Tchefuncte’s success is not driven by having the smallest class sizes, as its student-teacher ratio of 13.3 is higher than some lower-performing schools in the district. Instead, its consistent year-over-year excellence—with proficiency rates in Math and ELA fluctuating only between 89% and 92% over the past four years—points to a sustainable system of high-quality instruction and curriculum. The school also benefits from a strong feeder pipeline: students typically move on to Mandeville Junior High School, a 5-star school that maintains similarly high proficiency rates, ensuring a sustained period of academic achievement for students in the area.