BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Education's newest batch of LEAP test score data released Thursday shows that only three school districts statewide have more than half of students mastering the curriculum.

Ascension Parish, Central and West Feliciana Parish schools all recorded Mastery rates of 50 or above in third through eighth-grade student test scores. On the lower end of the Mastery rates is East Baton Rouge Parish, whose schools remained unchanged at 29 percent. The entire state's rankings can be found here. 

Statewide, the average of Mastery or above test scores in third through eighth grades sat at 35 percent, up one percentage point from 2024.

"These gains are part of the LDOE’s broader strategy to strengthen math outcomes across Louisiana," LDOE said in a release.

The education department also noted that since 2021, Louisiana’s overall Mastery-plus rate increased by five percentage points, with 80 percent of school systems either improving or maintaining their third through eighth grades Mastery rate, and 74 percent did the same for third through 12th grades.

“Louisiana teachers are the driving force behind the steady, sustained progress of the past five years,” Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said. “While today’s results show continued movement in the right direction, they also underscore the challenges ahead. We must accelerate efforts to support educators, raise expectations for students, and maintain our laser focus on academic achievement.”

The Pelican Institute for Public Policy praised the incremental improvement but said that a significant amount of work remains to continue to bring lasting change to the state's public education system.

"This, unfortunately, leaves the state with only 35 percent of students on grade level, unchanged from 2024," the group said about the limited Mastery statistic, as well as a decline in high school test scores.

They called the high school score decline particularly concerning.

"As educators intensify their focus on helping students master fundamental concepts and skills, we look forward to working with state policymakers to empower families with more options to help their kids reach their full potential," a Pelican Institute representative said.

LDOE also said that this most recent batch of test scores, which will contribute to 2025 school performance scores, is the final set of LEAP results used under Louisiana’s current accountability system.

Scores from the 2025-26 school year will factor into the first official school performance scores utilizing Louisiana’s revised accountability system. These scores will be released in late 2026, LDOE said.

"Designed to be a catalyst for academic growth, Louisiana’s revised accountability system will raise the bar for academic success, enhance the value of career education, and make it easier for the public to understand how schools are performing," LDOE added.

The LEAP scores release and the Pelican Institute's concerns about them comes a week after officials told WBRZ that the quality of education in the state is improving. 

"Too many kids can't read on grade level or do math on grade level, too many kids in failing schools; we have work to do. Make sure every classroom has a high quality teacher. Make sure that kids are in high quality schools. Make sure that they are getting those basic educational fundamentals in reading and math," Brumley acknowledged.