A report highlighting the East Baton Rouge Parish School System’s academic progress and strong post-pandemic recovery in reading and math received praise from a national education leader during Thursday’s School Board meeting on May 14.
“To all of you, congratulations on a job well done. This report is really reflective of the great work that is going on in East Baton Rouge public schools,” said Ray Hart of the Council of Great City Schools during a video presentation to the board.
The Council of the Great City Schools — a nonprofit organization representing 82 of the nation’s largest urban school districts, including EBRPSS — released information highlighting post-pandemic academic progress among urban districts.
The organization noted that EBR Schools has:
- Surpassed national pre-pandemic reading benchmarks, and
- Demonstrated strong gains in mathematics over the past three years.
The Council of Great City Schools findings reinforce the trends identified in newly released data from theEducational Opportunity Project at Stanford University and the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, which show that EBR Schools is among the fastest-improving school districts in the nation in math and reading achievement following the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to findings published in the 2026 Education Recovery Scorecard, EBR Schools ranks in the 88th percentile nationally for math achievement growth and the 80th percentile for reading achievement growth.
These rankings indicate that the district is improving at a faster rate than the vast majority of school systems across the country.
While overall achievement levels remain below national benchmarks, EBRPSS’s rate of academic improvement significantly outpaces both Louisiana averages and socioeconomically comparable districts nationwide — including peer districts such as Caddo and Lafayette parishes — highlighting a strong and sustained trajectory of recovery.
Since 2022, EBRPSS students have gained an average of +0.10 grade levels per year, surpassing the Louisiana state average of +0.06 and exceeding the +0.08 average among similar districts. These gains reflect consistent improvement across both math and reading and across multiple student groups.
Of the Education Scoreboard, Hart said, “I’m not there to give you a big round of applause, but if I were, I would.”
The report also underscores ongoing challenges. Despite recent progress, students in East Baton Rouge Parish currently perform approximately 1.50 grade levels below the 2019 national average, reinforcing the importance of maintaining and accelerating recovery efforts.
“The progress we’re seeing in LEAP reading and math reflects a disciplined, districtwide focus on instructional quality and equity,” said Superintendent LaMont Cole. “Over the past three years, we have made purposeful investments in standards-aligned curriculum, strengthened professional learning for educators, and used assessment data more strategically to respond to student needs. These efforts, along with expanded tutoring and additional learning time, are driving measurable improvement.”
To sustain and accelerate these gains, we are continuing key initiatives such as school realignment, start-time changes and the creation of K–2 foundational learning centers to strengthen early literacy and math, while deepening partnerships with families and the community to support long-term student success.”
Together, these national reports and partner analyses affirm that the East Baton Rouge Parish School System has made meaningful academic progress since 2022. The data underscores both the district’s forward momentum and its continued commitment to accelerating student learning.
