Summary:
In zip code 70526, there is one middle school, Crowley Middle School, serving grades 6 through 8 with 394 students in Crowley, Louisiana. This school is part of the Acadia Parish school district, which is a high-performing 4-star district ranking in the top 25% of Louisiana. However, Crowley Middle School itself is a 0-star school, ranking in the bottom 10% of the state for three consecutive years, with its most recent ranking at the 8th percentile. The school faces significant challenges, with 88.32% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch, indicating a very high-poverty student population.
The most critical issue at Crowley Middle School is its chronic absenteeism rate of 48.4%, which is more than double the state average of 22.5% and significantly higher than the district average of 29.8%. This likely drives the school's low academic performance, as students who are not in class cannot learn effectively. Test scores for the 2025-2026 school year show overall proficiency at 35% in Mathematics, 52% in English Language Arts, and 28% in Social Studies, all well below district and state averages. A relative bright spot is 7th-grade math, where 43% of students are proficient, the only subject where the school is within 22 percentage points of the state average.
On a positive note, the school has a low dropout rate of 1.7%, which is better than both the district (2.5%) and state (3.1%) averages, suggesting it retains students through 8th grade. Additionally, the student-teacher ratio of 13.9:1 is favorable and could support more individualized instruction if absenteeism is addressed. The stark contrast between the high-performing district and this struggling school highlights that Crowley Middle School faces unique challenges, likely tied to concentrated poverty, that other schools in Acadia Parish do not experience to the same degree.
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