Louisiana ranked next to last in quality of its schools

When measured against the other states and Washington, D.C., Louisiana’s school systems rank 50 out of 51 in the quality, according to WalletHub, a personal finance website based in the nation’s capital.

“Unlike other research that focuses primarily on academic outcomes or school finance, WalletHub’s analysis takes a more comprehensive approach,” said Adam McCann, WalletHub writer who produced the analysis. “It accounts for performance, funding, safety, class size and instructor credentials. To determine the top-performing school systems in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 33 key metrics.”

According to the analysis, Louisiana ranks 49th in quality and 47th in safety. This placed the state in an “overall ranking” of 50th between Arizona and New Mexico.

Quality rankings took into account each state’s high school graduation rates, dropout rates and test scores, among other criteria. While the safety rankings took into account school closures during the pandemic, state guidance on technological access during distance learning and youth incarceration rates, among other things. 

The results of the analysis also showed that Louisiana ranked 47th in reading test scores and was tied for 48th in math test scores. Louisiana also had the 6th highest bullying incidence rate and the 7th highest percentage of high school students who said they’d been threatened or injured at school.