Multiple metal accumulation as a factor in learning achievement within various New Orleans elementary school communities

In New Orleans, the elementary school system is divided into attendance districts with established boundaries that define student enrollment among schools. This study concerns environmental quality as defined by amount of soil metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, Ni, Mn, Cu, Co, Cr, and V) in attendance district elementary school communities (n=111) paired with learning achievement as measured by individual test scores (n=32,741) of students enrolled at each school. The Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) 4th grade scores measure learning achievement for English language arts, social studies, mathematics, and science. The best fit between environmental quality and higher learning achievement is found to be inversely associated with the sum of the metals or multiple metal accumulations (MMA) in New Orleans communities. The P values for MMA partitions for ELA, SOC, MAT, and SCI are 0.57×10−7, 0.29×10−8, 0.41×10−6, and 0.17×10−8, respectively. Efforts to prevent childhood metal exposure should improve New Orleanians’ learning achievement as measured by the LEAP scores and thereby enhance the socioeconomic situation in contaminated communities. This study establishes global relationships between LEAP scores in schools and soil metal concentrations in school neighborhoods. However, these data do not allow relating of the LEAP scores with metal levels for individual students.