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What advice would you give to incoming students at A. A. Nelson Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
736
Elementary
DISTRICT 395 · STATE 453
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CALCASIEU PARISH·NCES 220033000255
A. A. Nelson Elementary School
1001 Country Club Road, Lake Charles, LA 70605 · (337) 217-4790 · Calcasieu Parish
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL736 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 71% of Louisiana public elementary schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- DThree-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Louisiana public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
48 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.2:1 · STATE 14.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
57%
417 students
DISTRICT 63% · STATE 70%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 22 | 3% |
| Kindergarten | 119 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 125 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 113 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 130 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 118 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 109 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (119) is 9% larger than its 5th grade class (109).
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 59% · STATE 65% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
LEAP 2025 2025-26 . % Mastery+English Language Arts
54.0%
LA avg 41.8% . -12.0pp since 2022
Math
52.0%
LA avg 34.2% . -2.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the LEAP 2025, Louisiana's statewide test, about 54 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 52 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Louisiana schools, those numbers are about 42 and 34. Reading and writing scores are down about 12 points since 2022, while math scores are down about 2 points.
LEAP 2025 results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 54.0% | 52.0% |
| 2024-25 | 61.0% | 50.0% |
| 2023-24 | 58.0% | 47.0% |
| 2022-23 | 66.0% | 54.0% |
% Mastery+, all students and all tested grades.
Source: LEAP 2025. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
48.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.6%
based on LA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+5.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 49% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 44% typical for Louisiana schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Louisiana's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like A. A. Nelson Elementary School
A. A. Nelson Elementary School's state test result (48.7% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. A. Nelson Elementary School this school | 736 | 56.7% | 48.7% |
| Ruppel Academie Francaise Gretna | 362 | 60.5% | 72.7% |
| Shenandoah Elementary School Baton Rouge | 584 | 64.4% | 51.5% |
| Parkview Elementary School Baton Rouge | 499 | 67.7% | 48.8% |
| Westdale Heights Academic Magnet School Baton Rouge | 453 | 38.0% | 85.0% |
| Woodvale Elementary School Lafayette | 793 | 54.5% | 60.8% |
Matched among Louisiana elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where A. A. Nelson Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Louisiana | In Calcasieu Parish |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 48.7% | #116 of 583 | #7 of 30 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 52.0% | #103 of 582 ▲ 17 | #9 of 31 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 54.0% | #136 of 587 ▼ 52 | #10 of 31 ▼ 4 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -7.0pp | #92 of 540 | #4 of 29 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 736 | #65 of 714 | #4 of 35 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #498 of 655 | #29 of 31 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.0% | #35 of 655 | #1 of 31 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 56.7% | #568 of 705 | #25 of 34 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -5.4% | #360 of 436 | #26 of 29 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
736
+56 (+8%) vs 2020
+104% since 1990-91, when it was 360
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 16.2:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 736 | 48.4 | 15.2:1 | 57% (417) |
| 2023-24 | 772 | 50.6 | 15.3:1 | 54% (419) |
| 2022-23 | 741 | 43.7 | 17.0:1 | 55% (408) |
| 2020-21 | 680 | 42 | 16.2:1 | 51% (344) |
| 2017-18 | 778 | 42 | 18.5:1 | 47% (368) |
| 2015-16 | 729 | 60 | 12.2:1 | 49% (354) |
| 2010-11 | 720 | 41 | 17.6:1 | 62% (448) |
| 2000-01 | 561 | 30 | 18.7:1 | 35% (196) |
| 1990-91 | 360 | 21 | 17.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for A. A. Nelson Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 5% (778 to 736); teachers up 15% (42 to 48.4).
About A. A. Nelson Elementary School
A. A. Nelson Elementary School operates as a large elementary school in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The school reports 736 students in pre-K through 5. The school's enrollment is 62% larger than the 453 average for elementary schools in Louisiana.
The Calcasieu Parish system has 56 schools and 27,851 students.
A. A. Nelson Elementary School has no majority group; White students are the largest, at 41%. Beyond that, enrollment is 34% Black, 13% Asian, 7% Hispanic, and 4% multiracial. In Calcasieu Parish overall, about 66% of residents are White. Pick two students at random and there is a 69% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
The school reported 48.4 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25 and a ratio of 15.2:1. The school has more students per teacher than the 14.0:1 average for elementary schools in Louisiana. Eligible students account for 57% of enrollment in the free or reduced-price lunch program. That tracks the 59% average for public schools in Calcasieu Parish.
The allk12 Grade for A. A. Nelson Elementary School is B+. Compared with Louisiana public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 71% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Predicted from its free or reduced-price lunch share, A. A. Nelson Elementary School would score about 43.6%. It scores 48.7%, 5.1 points above that figure.
Among Calcasieu Parish residents, the median household income is $67,564, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 25%, and roughly 13% of residents are in poverty. Besides A. A. Nelson Elementary School, Calcasieu Parish has 60 other public schools.
The closest other public school is S. J. Welsh Middle School, about 0.8 miles away. A. A. Nelson Elementary School has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Local comparison: A. A. Nelson Elementary School ranks 2nd of 8 nearby schools, at 48.7% versus a 41.7% average.
A. A. Nelson Elementary School is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000, a location NCES labels City: Small.
Enrollment at A. A. Nelson Elementary School grew 8% between 2020-21 and 2024-25, from 680 to 736 students. Federal data show the ratio falling from 16.2:1 to 15.2:1.
Threads on this page can be about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Calcasieu Parish at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
207,088
Census ACS
Median income
$67,564
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
25%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
13%
Below federal line
Schools in county
61
30,278 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Calcasieu Parish
- Sulphur High SchoolHigh · 1,911 students
- Alfred M. Barbe High SchoolHigh · 1,908 students
- Sam Houston High SchoolHigh · 1,141 students
- S. J. Welsh Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,011 students
- Iowa High SchoolHigh · 1,007 students
- Moss Bluff Elementary SchoolElementary · 969 students
Other schools in Lake Charles
- Alfred M. Barbe High SchoolHigh · 1,908 students
- Sam Houston High SchoolHigh · 1,141 students
- S. J. Welsh Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,011 students
- Moss Bluff Elementary SchoolElementary · 969 students
- Lake Charles Charter AcademyElementary · 951 students
- LaGrange High SchoolHigh · 881 students
Nearby schools
- S. J. Welsh Middle School0.8 mi · 1,011
- Dolby Elementary School0.8 mi · 360
- M. J. Kaufman Elementary School1.3 mi · 308
- Alfred M. Barbe High School1.4 mi · 1,908
- Prien Lake Elementary School1.7 mi · 639
- F. K. White Middle School1.8 mi · 614
Frequently asked questions
About A. A. Nelson Elementary SchoolHow large is A. A. Nelson Elementary School?
A. A. Nelson Elementary School enrolls approximately 736 students in grades PK-05.
Is A. A. Nelson Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
A. A. Nelson Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at A. A. Nelson Elementary School?
Approximately 15.2:1 students per teacher at A. A. Nelson Elementary School.
What is the student diversity at A. A. Nelson Elementary School?
Student demographics at A. A. Nelson Elementary School are roughly 41% White, 7% Hispanic, 34% Black, 13% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees A. A. Nelson Elementary School?
A. A. Nelson Elementary School is overseen by Calcasieu Parish in Calcasieu Parish.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.