1
What advice would you give to incoming students at Northwood High School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
598
Combined
DISTRICT 474 · STATE 527
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·RAPIDES PARISH·NCES 220129001943
Northwood High School
8830 Highway 1 North, Lena, LA 71447 · (318) 793-8021 · Rapides Parish
GRADES PK–12COMBINED42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL598 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 66% of Louisiana public K-12 schools
- BTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- C+Three-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 K-12 schools
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
49 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 10.7:1 · STATE 52.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
83%
495 students
DISTRICT 80% · STATE 70%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other combined schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 26 | 4% |
| Kindergarten | 51 | 9% |
| Grade 1 | 51 | 9% |
| Grade 2 | 36 | 6% |
| Grade 3 | 46 | 8% |
| Grade 4 | 48 | 8% |
| Grade 5 | 37 | 6% |
| Grade 6 | 39 | 7% |
| Grade 7 | 47 | 8% |
| Grade 8 | 45 | 8% |
| Grade 9 | 51 | 9% |
| Grade 10 | 50 | 8% |
| Grade 11 | 32 | 5% |
| Grade 12 | 39 | 7% |
This year's kindergarten class (51) is 13% larger than its 8th grade class (45).
Student demographics
56%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 60% · 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
43.0%
LA avg 41.8% . +1.0pp since 2022
Math
25.0%
LA avg 34.2% . -3.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the LEAP 2025, Louisiana's statewide test, about 43 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 25 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Louisiana schools, those numbers are about 42 and 34. Reading and writing scores are up about 1 points since 2022, while math scores are down about 3 points.
LEAP 2025 results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 43.0% | 25.0% |
| 2024-25 | 43.0% | 28.0% |
| 2023-24 | 43.0% | 26.0% |
| 2022-23 | 42.0% | 28.0% |
% 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
34.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
24.7%
based on LA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+9.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 34% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 25% 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 Northwood High School
Northwood High School's state test result (34.2% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwood High School this school | 598 | 82.8% | 34.2% |
| Forest School Forest | 460 | 80.0% | 19.0% |
| Centerville High School Centerville | 429 | 74.1% | 28.3% |
| Plain Dealing High School Plain Dealing | 270 | 77.4% | 18.8% |
| Mt. Hermon School Mt. Hermon | 373 | 71.8% | 18.5% |
| Pitkin High School Pitkin | 387 | 81.7% | 36.2% |
Matched among Louisiana K-12 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 Northwood High School ranks
Among K-12 schools| Measure | This school | In Louisiana | In Rapides Parish |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 34.2% | #23 of 55 | N/A |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 25.0% | #40 of 55 ▼ 6 | N/A |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 43.0% | #24 of 55 ▲ 1 | N/A |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -1.0pp | #17 of 53 | N/A |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 598 | #11 of 81 | #3 of 8 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.1:1 | #29 of 54 | N/A |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 55.7% | #9 of 54 | N/A |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 82.8% | #12 of 62 | N/A |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.8% | #24 of 44 | N/A |
Ranked against other public K-12 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
598
-51 (-8%) vs 2020
-36% since 1990-91, when it was 938
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
was 14.8:1
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 | 598 | 49.2 | 12.1:1 | 83% (495) |
| 2023-24 | 653 | 53.2 | 12.3:1 | 82% (534) |
| 2022-23 | 613 | 44.7 | 13.7:1 | 75% (461) |
| 2020-21 | 649 | 44 | 14.8:1 | 49% (316) |
| 2017-18 | 686 | 42 | 16.3:1 | 80% (552) |
| 2015-16 | 757 | 51 | 14.8:1 | 77% (585) |
| 2010-11 | 826 | 51 | 16.2:1 | 74% (615) |
| 2000-01 | 842 | 54 | 15.6:1 | 76% (642) |
| 1990-91 | 938 | 56 | 16.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Northwood High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 13% (686 to 598); teachers up 17% (42 to 49.2).
About Northwood High School
Northwood High School is a medium-sized combined-grade school in Lena, Louisiana, administered by Rapides Parish. Enrollment is 598 students in 2024-25, and the school serves pre-K through 12.
Northwood High School is in Rapides Parish, a district with 21,340 students across 43 schools.
White students are the majority at Northwood High School, with 57% of enrollment. After that, the student body is 34% Black, 4% multiracial, and 3% Hispanic. That is close to the 61% White share among all Rapides Parish residents. The school's diversity index is 56%, meaning two students picked at random have a 56% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
Staffing totals 49.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 12.1:1. On average, combined schools in Louisiana have 52.1:1, compared with 12.1:1 here. The free or reduced-price lunch rate at Northwood High School is 83%.
The allk12 Grade for Northwood High School is B+. Compared with Louisiana public K-12 schools, the school scored higher than 66% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Based on student poverty, the model expects 24.7% at Northwood High School; the school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 34.2%.
County data help place the school in context: in Rapides Parish, the median household income is $54,967, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 23% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 15%. Rapides Parish is home to 51 public schools and about 21,481 public school students.
Nearest public school: Colfax Elementary School, about 7.7 miles away. Ranked by average proficiency, Northwood High School places 3rd out of 6 schools in its immediate area.
For locale, NCES codes Northwood High School as Rural: Distant.
Over 4 years, Northwood High School's enrollment declined 8%, to 598. By 2024-25, the school had 12.1 students per teacher, compared with 14.8 in 2020-21.
If you have questions about school safety, transportation, and start times at Northwood High School, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Rapides Parish at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
127,527
Census ACS
Median income
$54,967
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
23%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
15%
Below federal line
Schools in county
51
21,481 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Rapides Parish
- Alexandria Senior High SchoolHigh · 1,475 students
- Pineville High SchoolHigh · 1,271 students
- Peabody Magnet High SchoolHigh · 1,071 students
- J.I. Barron Sr. Elementary SchoolElementary · 924 students
- Buckeye High SchoolHigh · 915 students
- Tioga High SchoolHigh · 881 students
Other Northwood High schools
7 other US public schools in 7 states are named Northwood High. Northwood High School is the 5th largest of the 8.
- Northwood High SchoolShreveport, LA · 989 students
- Northwood HighIrvine, CA · 2,244 students
- Northwood HighRockville, MD · 1,654 students
- Northwood HighPittsboro, NC · 634 students
- Northwood High SchoolNorthwood, OH · 357 students
Nearby schools
- Colfax Elementary School7.7 mi · 159
- South Grant Elementary School10.9 mi · 487
- Renaissance Home for Youth12.2 mi · 12
- Mabel Brasher Montessori13.3 mi · 508
- Central Louisiana Supports and Services Center14.3 mi · 37
- Mary Goff Elementary School14.4 mi · 365
Frequently asked questions
About Northwood High SchoolWhat is the total enrollment at Northwood High School?
Northwood High School enrolls approximately 598 students in grades PK-12.
What age range does Northwood High School serve?
Northwood High School serves students from grade PK through grade 12.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Northwood High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Northwood High School is approximately 12.1:1 (49 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Northwood High School?
Student demographics at Northwood High School are roughly 57% White, 3% Hispanic, 34% Black, 0% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Northwood High School in?
Northwood High School is part of Rapides Parish.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.