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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Ponchatoula Junior High School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
723
Middle
DISTRICT 460 · STATE 440
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TANGIPAHOA PARISH·NCES 220168001317
Ponchatoula Junior High School
315 East Oak Street, Ponchatoula, LA 70454 · (985) 370-5322 · Tangipahoa Parish
GRADES 07–08MIDDLE23-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL723 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 13% of Louisiana public middle schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
51 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.3:1 · STATE 41.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
67%
483 students
DISTRICT 76% · STATE 70%
Community
5
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 7 | 353 | 49% |
| Grade 8 | 370 | 51% |
Student demographics
64%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 63% · 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
29.0%
LA avg 41.8% . -6.0pp since 2022
Math
21.0%
LA avg 34.2% . +2.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the LEAP 2025, Louisiana's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 21 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 6 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 2 points.
LEAP 2025 results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 29.0% | 21.0% |
| 2024-25 | 27.0% | 18.0% |
| 2023-24 | 31.0% | 17.0% |
| 2022-23 | 35.0% | 19.0% |
% Mastery+, all students and all tested grades.
Source: LEAP 2025. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of LA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
22.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
36.2%
based on LA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.6pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 23% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 36% typical for Louisiana schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Ponchatoula Junior High School
Ponchatoula Junior High School's state test result (22.7% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ponchatoula Junior High School this school | 723 | 66.8% | 22.7% |
| Donnie Bickham Middle School Shreveport | 800 | 67.6% | 18.0% |
| Martha Vinyard Elementary School Ponchatoula | 589 | 71.3% | 20.3% |
| Slidell Junior High School Slidell | 724 | 60.6% | 32.8% |
| Brusly Middle School Brusly | 539 | 67.3% | 45.2% |
| Cecilia Junior High School Cecilia | 576 | 72.0% | 24.5% |
Matched among Louisiana middle 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 Ponchatoula Junior High School ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Louisiana | In Tangipahoa Parish |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 22.7% | #149 of 213 | #3 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 21.0% | #146 of 210 ▲ 9 | #3 of 7 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.0% | #164 of 213 ▲ 4 | #3 of 7 no change |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -2.0pp | #48 of 197 | #1 of 7 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 723 | #27 of 220 | #1 of 7 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.1:1 | #123 of 195 | #6 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 63.8% | #38 of 195 | #2 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 66.8% | #122 of 214 | #7 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -11.2% | #122 of 162 | #5 of 7 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
723
-61 (-8%) vs 2020
+16% since 1990-91, when it was 623
Student : Teacher
14.1:1
was 19.1:1
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 | 723 | 51.2 | 14.1:1 | 67% (483) |
| 2023-24 | 747 | 41.5 | 18.0:1 | 60% (448) |
| 2022-23 | 770 | 41.2 | 18.7:1 | 60% (460) |
| 2020-21 | 784 | 41 | 19.1:1 | 40% (317) |
| 2017-18 | 814 | 35.5 | 22.9:1 | 39% (314) |
| 2015-16 | 697 | N/A | N/A | 66% (462) |
| 2010-11 | 759 | 39 | 19.5:1 | 58% (437) |
| 2000-01 | 652 | 35 | 18.6:1 | 44% (290) |
| 1990-91 | 623 | 30 | 20.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Ponchatoula Junior High School.
Since 2017-18: students down 11% (814 to 723); teachers up 44% (35.5 to 51.2).
About Ponchatoula Junior High School
Ponchatoula Junior High School is a high-enrollment middle-grades school. Its address is in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. The grade span is 7 through 8, and enrollment is 723 students. Average enrollment for middle schools in Louisiana is about 440, so this school runs 64% larger than that.
The Tangipahoa Parish system has 32 schools and 19,077 students.
Enrollment at Ponchatoula Junior High School is mixed, with White students the largest group at 43%. The rest of enrollment is 40% Black, 11% Hispanic, and 4% multiracial. Census estimates put the White share of Tangipahoa Parish's population at about 61%. Ponchatoula Junior High School has a diversity index of 64%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
The school reports 51.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to about 14.1 students per teacher. For comparison, middle schools in Louisiana average 41.0:1. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility covers 67% of students.
The allk12 Grade for Ponchatoula Junior High School is D. Compared with Louisiana public middle schools, the school scored higher than 13% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
Schools in Louisiana with a similar free or reduced-price lunch share are predicted to post an average proficiency rate on state tests near 36.2%. Ponchatoula Junior High School posts 22.7%, 13.6 points below that, which places it in the bottom 10% statewide on BeatsExpectations.
Tangipahoa Parish has these Census figures: median household income is about $56,760, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 21% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 14%. The public schools of Tangipahoa Parish number 33 and enroll about 19,077.
The nearest public school is Tucker Memorial Elementary School, at about 0.1 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Of the 6 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Ponchatoula Junior High School is 2nd on average proficiency.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is Suburb: Small: in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population under 100,000.
Ponchatoula Junior High School had 784 students in 2020-21 and 723 in 2024-25, an 8% decrease. The ratio of students to teachers went from 19.1:1 to 14.1:1 over the same years.
The Ponchatoula Junior High School community page is open for posts about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Tangipahoa Parish at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
136,738
Census ACS
Median income
$56,760
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
14%
Below federal line
Schools in county
33
19,077 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Tangipahoa Parish
- Ponchatoula High SchoolHigh · 2,067 students
- Hammond High Magnet SchoolHigh · 1,606 students
- Hammond Eastside MagnetElementary · 1,340 students
- Champ Cooper Elementary SchoolElementary · 1,163 students
- Hammond Westside MontessoriElementary · 1,022 students
- Loranger Elementary SchoolElementary · 800 students
Other schools in Ponchatoula
- Ponchatoula High SchoolHigh · 2,067 students
- Champ Cooper Elementary SchoolElementary · 1,163 students
- D.C. Reeves Elementary SchoolElementary · 688 students
- Tucker Memorial Elementary SchoolElementary · 633 students
- Martha Vinyard Elementary SchoolMiddle · 589 students
- Perrin Early Learning CenterElementary · 338 students
Nearby schools
- Tucker Memorial Elementary School0.1 mi · 633
- Perrin Early Learning Center0.5 mi · 338
- D.C. Reeves Elementary School0.7 mi · 688
- Ponchatoula High School2.2 mi · 2,067
- Martha Vinyard Elementary School2.3 mi · 589
- Woodland Park Magnet4.1 mi · 458
Frequently asked questions
About Ponchatoula Junior High SchoolHow large is Ponchatoula Junior High School?
Ponchatoula Junior High School enrolls approximately 723 students in grades 07-08.
What grades does Ponchatoula Junior High School serve?
Ponchatoula Junior High School serves grades 07-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Ponchatoula Junior High School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Ponchatoula Junior High School is approximately 14.1:1 (51 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Ponchatoula Junior High School?
At Ponchatoula Junior High School, the student body is approximately 43% White, 11% Hispanic, 40% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
What district is Ponchatoula Junior High School in?
Ponchatoula Junior High School is part of Tangipahoa Parish.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.