High Schools in Central

The Central region of New Mexico is home to four high schools: Kirtland Central High, Shiprock High, Newcomb High, and Career Prep Alternative. These schools serve students in grades 9-12 and face significant socioeconomic challenges, as evidenced by the high percentages of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, ranging from 94.32% to 98.26%.

Among the standout schools, Kirtland Central High ranks the highest, at 101 out of 131 New Mexico high schools in the 2024-2025 school year. It also outperforms the Central district and the state average in both NM-ASR/Science and SAT School Day/English Language Arts for 11th grade. Shiprock High and Newcomb High, on the other hand, lag behind the district and state averages in these test score metrics.

Interestingly, all four high schools in the data set have the same 78.0% four-year graduation rate for the 2023-2024 school year, despite the varying performance in other metrics. The student-teacher ratios also vary, with Kirtland Central High having the highest ratio at 14.4 and Career Prep Alternative having the lowest ratio at 11.3. This could suggest a potential correlation between lower student-teacher ratios and better academic outcomes, but further analysis would be needed to establish a causal relationship.