ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Elementary vs ReNEW Laurel Elementary

ReNEW Laurel Elementary ranks #2 of 1288 schools in Louisiana, compared to ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Elementary at #29 of 1288 — a gap of 27 positions in the state standings. Both schools score at the top of the rating scale, but ReNEW Laurel Elementary edges ahead with an overall rating of 9.7/10 against ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Elementary's 9.0/10, a 0.7-point difference that is driven primarily by growth rather than raw academic performance.

On academics, the two schools are nearly identical: ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Elementary scores 9.5/10 in academic proficiency versus ReNEW Laurel Elementary's 9.6/10, a difference of just 0.1 points. The more meaningful gap is in growth — the measure of how much students improve relative to their starting point. ReNEW Laurel Elementary posts a 9.7/10 growth score against ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Elementary's 9.1/10, a 0.6-point delta that suggests Laurel students are advancing at a faster pace year over year regardless of where they start.

ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Elementary is the larger campus, enrolling 760 students compared to ReNEW Laurel Elementary's 649. That size difference is also reflected in classroom density: ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Elementary operates at a 14.3:1 student-teacher ratio, while ReNEW Laurel Elementary's ratio sits at 12.2:1 — meaning roughly two fewer students per teacher on average. Both schools serve high-need populations, with free and reduced lunch rates of 85% at ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Elementary and 89% at ReNEW Laurel Elementary, showing that ReNEW Laurel Elementary achieves its higher growth score while serving a slightly more economically disadvantaged student body.

Both schools cover the same grade span — PK through 8 — so families with younger children and those approaching middle school transition years will find the same structural continuity at either campus. The 10.1-mile distance between the two schools makes them a genuine cross-neighborhood choice rather than adjacent options, and for families willing to travel, ReNEW Laurel Elementary's combination of a tighter student-teacher ratio and a significantly higher state rank makes it the harder school to overlook.