Hozho Academy

Hozho Academy is a PK–12 alternative school at 515 Park Ave in Gallup, New Mexico, serving 781 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade while operating as its own single-school district. Because there are no other schools within 20 miles, the only meaningful benchmark available is the New Mexico state average — and the school's "district" numbers are simply its own numbers, so comparing Hozho Academy to its district is comparing it to itself. Poverty concentration is essentially universal: 100% of students qualified for free/reduced-price lunch in 2024–25 and 2022–23, and 99.12% in 2023–24. Class sizes have also improved steadily, with the student–teacher ratio moving from 15.3 to 12.3 to 11.7 over the past three years.

Science is this school's clear strength. Hozho outperforms the state at every tested grade in science, including 36.2% versus the state's 33.62% across all grades, and a striking 48.28% versus 34.27% in 11th grade — roughly 14 points above the state. Math sits close to the state overall (26.43% versus 27.85%) but varies enormously by grade, from 44.87% in 6th grade (nearly 13 points ahead of the state) down to 19.74% in 3rd and 23.08% in 5th. The school also posted remarkable three-year gains from 2022–23 to 2024–25 in all three subjects, though 2025–26 brought small declines across the board.

English language arts is the weakest area, at 40.86% versus the state's 44.66%, with the biggest gaps in 3rd, 5th, and 7th grade and in 11th grade, where two separate exams place students about 10 points below the state. Fourth grade ELA, at 65.52%, is the single highest result in the data. Fifth grade is the weakest point overall, trailing the state in ELA, math, and science. Note that high-school math results are suppressed by the state — unknown, not zero — so no conclusion can be drawn there.