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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Prien Lake Elementary School?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
639
Elementary
DISTRICT 395 · STATE 453
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·CALCASIEU PARISH·NCES 220033000259
Prien Lake Elementary School
3741 Nelson Road, Lake Charles, LA 70605 · (337) 217-4910 · Calcasieu Parish
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL639 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 93% 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.
- ABeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- CThree-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
12.9:1
50 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.2:1 · STATE 14.0:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
41%
263 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 | 13 | 2% |
| Kindergarten | 104 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 101 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 108 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 102 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 106 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 105 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (104) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (105).
Student demographics
59%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
79.0%
LA avg 41.8% . -8.0pp since 2022
Math
74.0%
LA avg 34.2% . +0.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the LEAP 2025, Louisiana's statewide test, about 79 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 74 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 8 points since 2022, while math scores have held steady.
LEAP 2025 results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 79.0% | 74.0% |
| 2024-25 | 81.0% | 75.0% |
| 2023-24 | 83.0% | 74.0% |
| 2022-23 | 87.0% | 74.0% |
% Mastery+, all students and all tested grades.
Source: LEAP 2025. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of LA schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
73.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.7%
based on LA schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+18.4pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 73% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 55% typical for Louisiana schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 18 points, placing it in Louisiana's top 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 Prien Lake Elementary School
Prien Lake Elementary School's state test result (73.2% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prien Lake Elementary School this school | 639 | 41.2% | 73.2% |
| Ernest Gallet Elementary School Youngsville | 643 | 37.8% | 61.0% |
| Bluff Ridge Primary Prairieville | 677 | 39.1% | 66.2% |
| W.T. Lewis Elementary School Bossier City | 558 | 43.2% | 46.3% |
| Green T. Lindon Elementary School Youngsville | 719 | 47.7% | 64.7% |
| Sterlington Elementary School Sterlington | 800 | 44.6% | 53.3% |
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 Prien Lake Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Louisiana | In Calcasieu Parish |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 73.2% | #17 of 583 | #3 of 30 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 74.0% | #18 of 582 no change | #2 of 31 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 79.0% | #19 of 587 ▼ 3 | #2 of 31 ▲ 1 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest drop first | -4.0pp | #153 of 540 | #10 of 29 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 639 | #115 of 714 | #8 of 35 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.9:1 | #267 of 655 | #19 of 31 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 59.0% | #177 of 655 | #6 of 31 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 41.2% | #663 of 705 | #32 of 34 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -15.9% | #224 of 436 | #18 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
639
-15 (-2%) vs 2020
+4% since 1990-91, when it was 614
Student : Teacher
12.9:1
was 15.6:1
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 | 639 | 49.6 | 12.9:1 | 41% (263) |
| 2023-24 | 703 | 46.4 | 15.2:1 | 43% (304) |
| 2022-23 | 671 | 42.2 | 15.9:1 | 44% (294) |
| 2020-21 | 654 | 42 | 15.6:1 | 44% (290) |
| 2017-18 | 760 | 43.2 | 17.6:1 | 34% (260) |
| 2015-16 | 664 | 55 | 12.1:1 | 36% (241) |
| 2010-11 | 512 | 41 | 12.5:1 | 38% (195) |
| 2000-01 | 585 | 39 | 15.0:1 | 16% (92) |
| 1990-91 | 614 | 36 | 17.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Prien Lake Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 16% (760 to 639); teachers up 15% (43.2 to 49.6).
About Prien Lake Elementary School
Prien Lake Elementary School is a medium-sized elementary school found in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The latest federal count shows 639 students in pre-K through 5. The average for elementary schools in Louisiana is about 453 students, so this school is 41% above average.
Calcasieu Parish is the district for Prien Lake Elementary School. It has 56 schools and 27,851 students.
Prien Lake Elementary School is 58% White by enrollment. The rest of enrollment is 26% Black, 7% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 4% Asian. The school's diversity index is 59%, meaning two students picked at random have a 59% chance of belonging to different racial or ethnic groups.
The ratio of students to teachers is 12.9:1, with 49.6 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff. The school has fewer students per teacher than the 14.0:1 average for elementary schools in Louisiana. Lunch subsidy eligibility at Prien Lake Elementary School is 41%. The average for public schools in Calcasieu Parish is 59%.
Prien Lake Elementary School is graded A by allk12, scoring above 93% of Louisiana public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
Compared with Louisiana schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Prien Lake Elementary School does better than predicted by 18.4 points. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 73.2%; the prediction is 54.7%.
Calcasieu Parish census figures show that the median household income is $67,564, about 25% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 13% of residents are in poverty. Calcasieu Parish is home to 61 public schools and about 30,278 public school students.
S. J. Welsh Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.9 miles away. Within five miles of Prien Lake Elementary School, there are at least 8 other public schools. Of 8 schools in the immediate area with test results, Prien Lake Elementary School ranks 2nd on average proficiency.
Federal data place Prien Lake Elementary School in the City: Small locale, which means it is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Enrollment was essentially flat over 4 years: 654 in 2020-21, 639 in 2024-25. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio fell from 15.6:1 to 12.9:1.
The allk12 site hosts a discussion page for Prien Lake Elementary School covering things like sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
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 School0.9 mi · 1,011
- Alfred M. Barbe High School1.0 mi · 1,908
- College Oaks Elementary School1.5 mi · 278
- A. A. Nelson Elementary School1.7 mi · 736
- Barbe Elementary School1.9 mi · 179
- Dolby Elementary School2.1 mi · 360
Frequently asked questions
About Prien Lake Elementary SchoolHow large is Prien Lake Elementary School?
Prien Lake Elementary School enrolls approximately 639 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Prien Lake Elementary School serve?
Prien Lake Elementary School serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many teachers does Prien Lake Elementary School have?
Prien Lake Elementary School employs 50 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 12.9:1.
How diverse is Prien Lake Elementary School?
Prien Lake Elementary School reports a student body of 58% White, 7% Hispanic, 26% Black, 4% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees Prien Lake Elementary School?
Prien Lake 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.