Dora Elementary

Dora Elementary is a small, rural PK–6 school at 100 School St in Dora, New Mexico (ZIP 88115), serving about 126 students as part of Dora Municipal Schools, a district that ranks 11th of 87 in the state. The school is currently at a decade high: in 2025-2026 it ranked 30th of 346 schools (91st percentile) and earned its first 5-star rating since 2017-2018, after climbing steadily from the 76th percentile in 2021-2022.

Academically, Dora's results sit well above state averages. In 2025-2026, 75.44% of students were proficient in Language Arts versus 43.34% statewide, and 54.39% in math versus 25.54% statewide. Among comparable nearby schools, Elida Elementary (18 miles away) comes closest, and Dora still leads it by about 8 points in Language Arts and 9 in math — even though Dora's student-teacher ratio of 12.5:1 is less generous than Elida's 7.5:1. Valencia Elementary trails Dora by roughly 25 points in Language Arts and 27 in math. Every reported grade-level score beats the state, with grades 3 and 4 at or above 80% in Language Arts and grades 5 and 6 strongest in math (66.67% and 64.71%). Third-grade math is suppressed by the state for privacy, a reflection of a small cohort rather than a performance signal.

Three-year trends show all-grade Language Arts rising from 44% to 75.44% while the state gained about 7 points, and math improving from 46% to 54.39%. The roughly 21-point gap between Language Arts and math is where the remaining headroom sits, especially grade 4 math (50%). Because a tested grade holds only about 15–20 students, each child shifts the numbers by several points, so single-year swings are best read as cohort noise until they repeat. Also note that Brown Early Childhood Center and James Elementary serve PK–K and grades 1–2 only, so their scores are not head-to-head comparisons with Dora's tested grades; both belong to Portales Municipal Schools, a district ranked 61st of 87.