Des Moines Elementary

Des Moines Elementary is an 82-student PK–6 school in the small village of Des Moines in northeast New Mexico, and it is the only school within 20 miles of the community — part of Des Moines Municipal Schools, a district ranked 2nd of 87 in the state. Because there are no neighboring schools to compare against, the most useful benchmarks are that district and the state of New Mexico as a whole.

For 2025–2026, the school ranks 11th of 346 ranked New Mexico elementary schools — 97th percentile, 5 stars — and it has been a top-1-to-5-percent school every year on record since 2013–14. Mathematics is its signature strength: 81.08% of students were proficient versus 27.85% statewide, roughly 2.9 times the state rate. In English language arts, 78.38% were proficient against 44.66% statewide. Fourth graders scored at least 80% proficient in both reading and math, while fifth graders posted an identical 69.23% in language arts, math, and science — well above state rates of 41.98%, 33.85%, and 31.97%. Third- and sixth-grade results are suppressed by the state to protect student privacy, so they cannot be evaluated either way.

Two features shape how to read these numbers. First, with only about a dozen students per tested grade, a single student can shift a percentage by several points, so small year-to-year moves carry little meaning — the 2022–23 math dip to 49% looks like a cohort blip rather than a program problem. Second, the student–teacher ratio is exceptionally low at roughly 8-to-1, and the school serves a roughly half economically disadvantaged population; its low-income students ranked in the 97th percentile statewide in 2022–23. Strong results here are not explained by an advantaged intake.