Best High Schools in Zip Code 71342

In zip code 71342, there is one high school, Jena High School, serving grades 9 through 12 with 490 students in the Jena, Louisiana area.

Jena High School is part of the highly-rated LaSalle Parish district, which holds a 5-star rating and ranks in the 93rd percentile statewide. The school itself has a 3-star rating but shows notable volatility in its state ranking, dropping from the 59th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 37th percentile in 2024-2025 before rebounding. A key strength is its exceptional graduation rate of 94.4%, far above the state average of 85.0%, paired with an extremely low dropout rate of just 0.2% compared to the state's 3.1%. However, the school faces a significant paradox: despite these strong completion metrics, its chronic absenteeism rate is 37.5%, which is nearly 15 percentage points higher than the state average and 11 points higher than its own district average. Academically, the school shows mixed performance—excelling in English and Biology (with Biology scores 12 points above the state average in the most recent data) but struggling in Algebra I, where it falls 7 points below the state average. The school also consistently underperforms its own district averages in most subjects, suggesting it may be the lower-performing school within an otherwise excellent district.

For parents, the standout takeaway is that Jena High School successfully gets nearly all students to graduate with minimal dropouts, but a very large portion of students are missing significant school days. This disconnect between high graduation rates and high absenteeism may point to underlying issues like student disengagement or economic pressures. The school's academic strengths lie in English and science, while math—particularly Algebra I—is a clear area needing improvement. The volatility in state rankings also suggests that year-to-year performance can vary, so parents should monitor trends closely rather than relying on a single year's data.