Graduating high school in Louisiana 2026: diploma and French immersion

An American diploma

The high school diploma is earned by accumulating credits across the four years of high school, not by sitting a single final examination.

The state adds end-of-course assessments in certain subjects, together with a core of required credits. There is no decisive overall average and no resit session in the sense of a baccalaureate.

The cumulative grade point average, expressed on a four-point scale, does play a central part in university admission.

The French-speaking legacy

French was spoken in Louisiana for centuries, in its Cajun and Creole forms. It was actively discouraged in schools through much of the twentieth century, which broke the transmission of the language between generations.

A public body, CODOFIL, was created in the late 1960s to halt that decline. Among other things it recruits teachers from France, Belgium and French-speaking Africa.

Immersion programmes

The main achievement of that policy lies in the French immersion programmes now running in several parishes of the state.

Pupils there follow a substantial share of their teaching — mathematics, science, social studies — in French, from elementary school onwards. These pathways produce a solid level of bilingualism and can lead to internationally recognised French language certifications.

Those certifications do not replace the leaving diploma, however: they are held alongside it.

Getting into university

Admission to American universities rests on a set of elements: cumulative grade point average, advanced courses taken, letters of recommendation, personal essays and, depending on the institution, standardised test scores.

Louisiana also runs a state scholarship scheme for students meeting conditions of coursework and results, which covers all or part of tuition at the state's public universities.