BATON ROUGE — Louisiana topped a recent educational report card for academic growth nationwide. 

Louisiana students ranked first in the nation for reading growth and second in math growth on the latest Education Scorecard released by researchers from Harvard University, Stanford University and Dartmouth College.

According to state education officials, Louisiana is the only state where student achievement has surpassed pre-pandemic levels in both reading and math. Louisiana earned the top national ranking for growth between 2022 and 2025 in math, following a similar top mark from 2019 to 2024. 

The Education Scorecard also shows that chronic absenteeism continues to be an issue across the state, with the rate of absenteeism increasing from 18.8% in 2022 to 22% in 2025. 

“I’m proud of Louisiana students and grateful for the teachers who are driving these results,” Louisiana State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley said. “These rankings are a point of pride for our state, but we are far from satisfied and will keep pushing for greater academic outcomes.”

Several Louisiana school systems were listed in the report as Districts on the Rise, including West Baton Rouge Parish, which showed particularly high increases in reading.