New Orleans students vaulted past their peers on this year’s LEAP tests, making the city school system one of the most improved in Louisiana and the state’s top-growing large district.
Across all tested subjects and grades, New Orleans public school students grew 3 percentage points, according to results from the spring tests released Monday. The year-over-year gains landed New Orleans on the state’s list of most-improved school systems and pushed it past comparable districts, including East Baton Rouge, which grew 2 points, and Jefferson Parish, whose scores were flat.
Search for each school’s scores here.
New Orleans is the only school system to make the top-improving list three years in a row. With more than 43,000 students who attend mostly independently run charter schools, NOLA Public Schools was also the largest school system on the list.
The latest test scores continue a five-year streak for New Orleans, where students have made dramatic gains since the COVID-19 pandemic upended learning and caused test scores to crater nationwide. Since 2021, NOLA Public Schools’ combined LEAP scores have shot up by 12 percentage points — the second-largest increase of any school district over that five-year period and twice the statewide growth rate.
New Orleans’ gains have helped fuel Louisiana’s dramatic academic rise in recent years, earning national recognition as the only state where students have surpassed pre-pandemic achievement levels in math and reading.
New Orleans schools “have continued to churn out growth,” state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley told school system leaders Monday, according to a NOLA Public Schools news release. “And you are helping us push this entire state forward. So, thank you, Orleans.”
New Orleans pulled past the state’s other two largest school systems on the 2026 LEAP tests.
Combining all tested subjects, 31% of New Orleans students in grades 3-12 hit the state’s score target of “mastery” or above, indicating they are ready for the next grade level. In Jefferson Parish and East Baton Rouge, 30% of students met that mark.
New Orleans ranked 36 out of all 70 school systems based on its grades 3-12 LEAP scores this year — 19 spots higher than its 2021 ranking.
Out of the 44 school districts where the percentage of economically disadvantaged students is higher than the statewide rate of 70%, New Orleans came in 12th place this year — above the Jefferson, East Baton Rouge and Caddo Parish systems.
“The city is improving faster than the state overall, gaining ground compared to peer districts, and seeing growth across every major student group,” said officials with New Schools for New Orleans, a nonprofit that researches and supports the city’s charter schools, in an analysis of school scores.
In grades 3-8, New Orleans improved 2 percentage points in English and 2 points in math, compared with the share of students achieving “mastery” or above in 2025. By contrast, Louisiana students statewide grew just 1 percentage point in math and English scores were flat.
Still, the city trails the statewide achievement rate in both subjects. In English, 39% of New Orleans students in grades 3-8 scored at the mastery level or above, 4 points below the statewide rate. In math, 26% of students hit the target, 8 points below the statewide rate.
“We are encouraged by this momentum,” NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Fateama Fulmore said in a statement, “yet remain focused on the important work ahead to accelerate student learning, especially in math, so that every child receives the high-quality education they deserve.”
