Summary:
Zip code 71019 in Coushatta, Louisiana, is home to two middle schools serving grades 3-8 within the Red River Parish school district, which is ranked 85th out of 116 districts in the state and serves a highly economically disadvantaged population with free/reduced lunch rates exceeding 95%.
Red River Junior High School is the larger traditional middle school with 213 students in grades 6-8, offering a very low student-teacher ratio of 8.4:1. It has shown some recent improvement in state ranking, moving from the 20th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 29th percentile in 2024-2025, though it slipped slightly to the 23rd percentile in 2025-2026. Its academic proficiency rates are 43% in Math and 56% in ELA, both below state averages, and it struggles with a 17% chronic absenteeism rate. In contrast, Red River Academic Academy is a smaller alternative school serving 76 students in grades 3-8 with a 12.1:1 student-teacher ratio. It stands out for exceptional student engagement metrics, including a remarkably low 5.1% chronic absenteeism rate and a 0.0% dropout rate, yet its academic proficiency scores are lower at 37% in Math and 41% in ELA.
The most interesting finding is the "engagement vs. achievement" paradox between the two schools. Red River Academic Academy excels at keeping students in school and attending daily, but this has not translated into higher test scores, suggesting a focus on foundational support and retention over academic acceleration. Meanwhile, Red River Junior High achieves slightly better academic results despite higher absenteeism, and its 6th-grade scores reveal particular weaknesses in Social Studies (30% proficiency) and Math (38% proficiency), indicating a challenging transition into middle school. Both schools significantly underperform state averages, highlighting the systemic impact of high poverty on academic outcomes across the district.
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