Tensas High School

Tensas High School, a very small high school in St. Joseph, Louisiana, part of Tensas Parish, serves 147 students, covering grades 6 through 12. Enrollment runs roughly 79% below the state mean of about 711.

Within Tensas Parish, which oversees 2 schools and 301 students, Tensas High School is one campus in the system.

In terms of who attends, Tensas High School logs that 90% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority. Other groups include 8% White. The wider county runs roughly 54% Black, putting the school's mix noticeably more Black than the area baseline.

In terms of school funding signals, Staff filings list 17 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 8.7:1 students per teacher. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 18.0:1, putting Tensas High School tighter than the state norm the norm. Roughly 95% of students at Tensas High School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, Tensas High School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 16.5% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 13.3%.

Across the wider county, Tensas Parish reports that the typical household earns roughly $36,615 per year, about 15% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 26%. Tensas High School is one of 2 public schools in Tensas Parish (combined enrollment of about 301 students).

Nearest neighbor: Tensas Elementary School, around 0.6 miles off. Among the 4 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Tensas High School ranks 4th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 39.2%.

Geographically, the school is in a rural area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 45%: 266 students in 2018 compared to 147 in 2025. Class-load math has pulled in: from 14.4:1 in 2018 to 8.7:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, recent activity here tends to focus on science fair prep, picture-day reminders, and bus-route questions. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.