Pearl Watson Elementary School

As a low-enrollment K-5 school in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Pearl Watson Elementary School works with 219 students from grades pre-K through 5, one of the schools within Calcasieu Parish. That puts it 52% leaner than the typical public school in Louisiana, which averages around 453 students.

Pearl Watson Elementary School is one of 56 schools operated by Calcasieu Parish, a district that educates 27,851 students overall.

Looking at the student body, Pearl Watson Elementary School lists that nearly all students (92%) are Black. Beyond that, the school records 3% White, 3% Hispanic. By comparison, Calcasieu Parish as a whole is about 23% Black, so the school skews considerably more Black than its surroundings.

In terms of school funding signals, Pearl Watson Elementary School shows 20 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 11.0:1. The state averages around 14.0:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 92% of students at Pearl Watson Elementary School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Calcasieu Parish runs at roughly 59%, so the school's eligibility rate is somewhat above the surrounding baseline.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Pearl Watson Elementary School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 18.5%, the actual is 23.0%, a residual of +4.5 points.

Around the school, Calcasieu Parish reports that the typical household earns roughly $67,564 per year, 25% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 13% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Across Calcasieu Parish's 61 public schools (combined enrollment of about 30,278 students), Pearl Watson Elementary School is one campus in the mix.

Oak Park Elementary School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 1.2 miles from this campus. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Pearl Watson Elementary School ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 29.1%.

The school occupies a downtown site.

Five-year trend. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Pearl Watson Elementary School has shrank 32%, going from 324 students in 2018 to 219 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 15.9:1 in 2018 to 11.0:1 today.

On the community side, the feed for Pearl Watson Elementary School typically covers science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.