Summary:
Zip code 71001 in Arcadia, Louisiana, is home to two schools within the Bienville Parish school district, serving students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade in a high-poverty area where nearly 90% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
Crawford Elementary School (grades PK-5) stands out as the stronger performer, earning a 3-star rating with a positive ranking trajectory and notably strong math proficiency at 71%, which exceeds both the state average and the performance of Arcadia High School (grades 6-12). Arcadia High School, rated 2 stars, struggles with stagnant rankings and significant academic weaknesses, particularly in social studies where only 15% of students are proficient in U.S. History—a staggering 40 points below the state average. Despite both schools having enviably low student-teacher ratios (9.5:1 at Crawford and 7.8:1 at Arcadia), the high school fails to capitalize on this resource, suggesting issues beyond teacher availability, such as curriculum quality or student engagement.
A critical finding is the disconnect in the feeder pattern: Crawford Elementary builds a strong foundation, but that momentum is lost at Arcadia High School, where math proficiency drops from 71% to 65% and chronic absenteeism more than doubles from 12.4% to 25.3%. This absenteeism crisis likely drives much of the high school's academic struggles. Paradoxically, Arcadia High boasts a 94.9% graduation rate—well above the state average—yet its low proficiency in core subjects like Geometry (48%) and U.S. History raises serious questions about college and career readiness. Social studies is a systemic weakness across both schools, with proficiency rates (42% at Crawford, 45% at Arcadia) far below the state average of 55%, indicating a district-wide need for instructional intervention in this subject.
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