School officials gathering for a committee-level review to outline major academic gains and debate upcoming fiscal and facility changes ahead of the official Natchitoches Parish School Board meeting scheduled for July 14.

Superintendent Dr. Grant Eloi delivered an academic update, revealing that Natchitoches Parish has been recognized as one of the top growth districts in Louisiana for two consecutive years.

Since 2021, the district has grown an astonishing 14 percentage points, outperforming the state average growth of 5 points. This rapid improvement has vaulted Natchitoches Parish from 43rd to 16th overall in statewide academic performance. 

Dr. Eloi highlighted several stand-out school achievements from the recently released LEAP scores:

• Fairview Alpha Elementary: Achieved the highest growth of any elementary scchool in the entire state of Louisiana.
• Middleab: Ranked 7th in the state for growth, a particularly impressive feat given its existing status as a high-performing "A" school.
• Natchitoches Junior High (NJH): Recorded a 6% growth rate despite navigating a massive campus consolidation and merging two separate facilties. 

Committee members echoed the celebration of these achievements, noting that Natchitoches was one of the only nine districts nationwide recognized by the Harvard-Stanford Education Recovery Scorecard for post-COVID reading success, and the only district in Louisiana to show growth in both reading and math on national assessments. 

For the full press release by the Natchitoches Parish Journal, click here.