Tse Bit Ai Middle

Tse Bit Ai Middle is a grades 7–8 school in Shiprock, New Mexico, serving 390 students as part of Central Consolidated Schools. It is a high-poverty school, with free/reduced lunch reported at 100% in 2024–2025, and its district ranks 80th of 87 in New Mexico — the 8th percentile, with 0 stars. The school’s student–teacher ratio was 12.7 in 2024–2025.

On statewide rankings, Tse Bit Ai Middle sits near the bottom of New Mexico middle schools. In 2025–2026 it ranked 167th of 191 schools, at the 13th percentile with 1 star. The two prior years were similar: 186th of 192 (3rd percentile, 0 stars) in 2024–2025 and 153rd of 165 (7th percentile, 0 stars) in 2023–2024. The closest comparison available is Kirtland Middle, 18.75 miles away in the same district, with 372 students in grades 7–8, a 100% free/reduced lunch rate, and a student–teacher ratio of 12.5. Despite those similarities, Kirtland Middle earned 2 stars each of the last three years and outperformed Tse Bit Ai by roughly 30 to 38 percentile points. The data cannot prove why, but it suggests school-level practices or other unmeasured factors are associated with the gap.

Test results show the deepest gaps in 8th-grade science (8.41% proficient, versus 29.52% at Kirtland Middle and 34.33% statewide) and 8th-grade math (10.28%, versus 22.29% and 20.50%). Tse Bit Ai trails the district and state in every listed subject. School-effectiveness rankings for specific groups vary: female students were at the 36th percentile with 2 stars in 2025–2026, while male students were at the 5th percentile with 0 stars, a gap that has persisted for years. Native American students were at the 8th percentile and low-income students at the 20th percentile. Encouragingly, proficiency rose over two years — ELA from 25% to 28.29% and math from 5% to 15.12% — and the overall percentile improved from 3rd to 13th.