Ponchatoula, LA schools
Ponchatoula’s public schools score well below Louisiana’s averages: 29% of students are proficient in reading against 40.1% statewide, and 78% of high schoolers graduate on time against 84.1%. Kids attend Perrin Early Learning Center through grade K, then D.C. Reeves Elementary School, Ponchatoula Junior High School and one of 7 high schools.
Grades, test scores, graduation, spending and every school, from U.S. Department of Education data.
Ponchatoula’s School Grade: B-
The public schools Ponchatoula’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, outperform 54% of Louisiana’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the bottom.
How the School Grade works
- Results, not inputs. Math and reading proficiency on Louisiana’s state tests, each against the state average, plus the four-year graduation rate. Spending and class size are shown below but don’t count toward the grade. Tests: 2020–21; graduation: class of 2020.
- The whole path. A town’s grade follows its kids: every district that serves it, weighted by the number of students tested in each. Tests count 60% and graduation 40%.
- Graded within the state. Each state writes its own tests, so districts are lined up against the rest of Louisiana only. A+ top 5%A next 10%A- next 10%B B+ to B−, next 30%C C+ to C−, next 30%D D and D−, bottom 15%
- Individual schools are graded the same way on their own test results, against every public school in Louisiana with 25+ students. Private schools aren’t graded: they don’t take the state tests.
- What a grade can’t tell you. Test results track family income closely, so a high grade partly reflects who lives in a town. That’s why we also compare towns with similar incomes. Visit, ask other parents, and read neighbor reviews. It’s our own summary of U.S. Department of Education data, not an official rating.
Where Ponchatoula kids go to school
Based on district boundaries from the U.S. Department of Education. Check with the district before you enroll.
Well below the state in reading
78% graduate on time
The share of students who started ninth grade together and earned a regular diploma within four years. #132 of 161 LA towns →
The district serving Ponchatoula
Each district’s own page has its spending, test scores, enrollment and every school.
Colleges near Ponchatoula
There’s no college in Ponchatoula, but 2 colleges are within 30 miles. The closest is Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, 5.3 miles away.
Straight-line distance from the center of Ponchatoula. Degree-granting colleges with students on campus. Colleges marked › have their own page; the others are too small or don’t report enough to the Department of Education for one.
All 5 schools in Ponchatoula
School data from the U.S. Department of Education (NCES). Ratings are from neighbors on TownTapestry.
Schools Ponchatoula kids attend in other towns
Public schools in Ponchatoula’s district that are located in Ponchatoula, Hammond, Loranger, Independence, Kentwood and Amite. Which one depends on your address.