Best Public Schools in Vado, NM

Vado, New Mexico has one school in this data set—Vado Elementary, a PK–6 elementary campus with 415 students in the Gadsden Independent Schools district—and no middle, high, or alternative schools are included.

For parents, the key context is that Vado Elementary serves a high-poverty population—100% free/reduced lunch in 2024–2025—and its student-teacher ratio was 12.5. The district is ranked 54th of 87 in New Mexico with 2 stars. The school improved in rank from 316th of 345 (8th percentile, 0 stars) in 2024–2025 to 276th of 346 (20th percentile, 1 star) in 2025–2026, and all-grade NM-MSSA ELA rose from 25.54% to 27.69% and math from 19.91% to 21.54%. Still, overall proficiency trails the district and state, especially in ELA: all-grade NM Combined Language Arts is 27% versus 40% district and 43.34% state, while all-grade math is 21.5% versus 28.89% district and 25.54% state.

Performance varies sharply by grade. The brightest spot is 4th-grade math: 33.33% in NM Combined Math, above district 31.04% and state 27.24%. 6th-grade math is close to state (30.19% vs 31.89%) but far below district (49.49%). The clearest concern is 5th grade: math 13.21%, science 13.21%, and Language Arts under 20%, all far below district and state; 5th-grade science also declined from 16.07% in 2024–2025 to 13.46% in 2025–2026. 4th-grade ELA is also weak at 29.17% versus district 47.20% and state 50.36%, and 3rd-grade math is under 20%. Overall, Vado Elementary shows improvement and a notable 4th-grade math strength, but substantial gaps remain, with 5th grade the most urgent academic red flag.