By Laura Hunt Miller
At Choudrant High School, students greet their principal happily as they pass signs of their peers’ academic achievements on the walls.
Beneath a stately “ACT 30+ Club” sign, rows of student portraits recognize those who have scored 30 or higher on the college entrance exam. What began with a few students, has grown over the years to nearly 30. With 36 being the max score students can make on the test, scoring a 30 or more places students among the top 6% of ACT test takers nationwide.
Jones is just as proud that Choudrant’s academic gains are reaching a broader share of its students. In 2024, over half of CHS students met the school’s benchmark of either a 20 (Louisiana’s ACT statewide average is 18.2) on the ACT or “Gold” on the ACT WorkKeys assessment. Today, that figure has climbed to 84%.
WorkKeys is a nationally recognized career-readiness assessment that measures practical skills in applied math, workplace documents and interpreting graphic information. Earning Gold demonstrates a high level of proficiency across all three areas.
High scores on both tests help students qualify for the “Taylor Opportunity Program for Students”, better known as TOPS, Louisiana’s merit-based scholarship program, that helps students pursue in-state higher education, including technical and workforce training. Last year, nearly all of Choudrant’s seniors qualified for the program.
These gains begin well before graduation; starting in sixth grade, the school has worked to improve averages across its major subjects, progress Jones attributes to more than a decade of work and commitment from Choudrant’s faculty. In particular, he credits civics teacher Ryan Smith, social studies teacher Jaime Simpson, Kristy Baker in sixth-grade math and Grace Smith in eighth-grade math, along with Stephanie Young*, Janna Crowe, Mason Hixon and Laura Jackson. Jones also credits Amy McGuire, the school’s academic counselor who has worked diligently to coordinate the academic effort behind these gains.
When the kids take their first crack at the exams, the school identifies areas in which each student needs improvement, provides additional help and, in the case of WorkKeys, offers opportunities to retest each month. The faculty stays committed to helping each student who needs it, and celebrates those who meet their targets along the way.
The portraits beneath the ACT 30+ Club sign celebrate students reaching a nationwide academic goal, but the school’s broader numbers point to perhaps a more impressive achievement: helping young people learn to grow and succeed, even if they don’t pass the bar the first time, so they can take the next steps in their lives on their own.
