Summary:
In zip code 71366, located in Saint Joseph, Louisiana, there is one high school, Tensas High School, which serves grades 6 through 12 with a total enrollment of 147 students as part of the Tensas Parish school district, a district ranked in the bottom 12% of the state.
Tensas High School faces significant challenges, most notably a chronic absenteeism rate of 39.9%—nearly double the state average—and a student body where 94.56% are economically disadvantaged. Despite a favorable student-teacher ratio of 8.6, academic proficiency on state assessments is very low. For example, only 5% of students are proficient in Geometry, 18% in Social Studies, and 28% in Biology, all far below state averages. However, the school posts a graduation rate of 85.7%, slightly above the state average, and a low dropout rate of 1.1%, creating a paradox where students graduate without meeting key academic benchmarks. A bright spot is English I, where 63% of students are proficient, just 3 points below the state average.
The school’s state ranking has shown a slight upward trend, moving from the 8th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 12th percentile in 2025-2026, but it remains in the bottom tier. The high chronic absenteeism, likely driven by socioeconomic factors, appears to be a root cause of the low test scores, outweighing the potential benefits of small class sizes. For parents, this data suggests that while Tensas High School may help students graduate, it struggles to ensure they are academically prepared in core subjects like math and social studies.
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