Summary:
Raton, New Mexico is served by Raton Public Schools, a small district of just three schools serving 831 students. The grade configuration is unusual: Longfellow Elementary covers PK–2 (235 students), Raton Intermediate covers grades 3–6 (246 students), and Raton High covers grades 7–12 (350 students), so there is no standalone middle school. All three schools serve a very high-poverty population, with free/reduced lunch rates between 96.17% and 99.59%. Student-teacher ratios are moderate, ranging from 12.0 at Raton Intermediate to 14.8 at Raton High.
Strong results do exist here. Longfellow Elementary posts the highest proficiency figure in the data set, with Language Arts at 58.9% versus 44.51% for the district and 43.34% for the state. Raton Intermediate's 6th grade is a clear standout, reaching 50.85% in both Language Arts and math, well above state figures of 38.90% and 31.89%. At Raton High, the middle grades generally outperform the state — 8th grade ELA is 53.19% versus 43.61%, and 7th grade math is 40.38% versus 26.93% — and its graduation rate of 89.4% exceeds the state's 80.6%.
Weak spots are concentrated in the upper grades and in math. Raton High's 11th grade Language Arts is 20.97% versus the state's 36.78%, SAT ELA is 19.67% versus 37.07%, and 11th grade/SAT math is under 10%. At Raton Intermediate, 5th grade math is 15.87% versus 33.85% for the state, with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade math all below state levels. Both ranked schools have also slipped over three years — Raton High fell from the 51st to the 30th percentile and Raton Intermediate from the 59th to the 34th, each dropping from 3 stars to 2 stars.
Thank you for your feedback!