Summary:
This analysis examines three elementary schools in zip code 70460 (Slidell, LA), all part of the highly-ranked St. Tammany Parish school district, serving grades PK-6, PK-3, and PK-5 respectively.
Henry Mayfield Elementary School stands out as the largest and most consistent performer in the area, with 749 students and a 2-star rating for the past two years. It serves grades PK-6 and leads the trio in academic proficiency, particularly in ELA (70%) and Mathematics (66%). In contrast, Bayou Woods Elementary School has experienced a dramatic decline, dropping from a 4-star rating (83rd percentile) in 2022-2023 to a 2-star rating (47th percentile) in 2025-2026, making it a critical outlier. Alton Elementary School is the smallest school (208 students) and faces the most significant challenges, with the highest rate of economic disadvantage (85.58% free/reduced lunch), the lowest state ranking (12th percentile, 1-star), and the lowest test scores across nearly all subjects, despite having the smallest student-teacher ratio (9.9).
Key findings reveal that socioeconomic status is a strong predictor of performance, with Henry Mayfield (60.61% free/reduced lunch) consistently outperforming the others. Social Studies is a universal weakness, as all three schools fall below the state average of 55%, with Alton Elementary critically low at 30%. Chronic absenteeism is a widespread problem, with all schools at or above the state average of 22.5%, and Bayou Woods the worst at 27.1%. Notably, smaller class sizes at Alton Elementary do not guarantee better results, suggesting the school needs targeted interventions and support for its high-poverty student population rather than just reduced ratios.
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