Lincoln Elementary

Lincoln Elementary is a PK–5 school at 502 Old Zuni Rd in Gallup, New Mexico, enrolling 414 students as part of Gallup-McKinley City Schools. The district ranks in the bottom third of New Mexico districts (60th of 87), while Lincoln itself sits mid-pack statewide — 177th of 346 elementary schools, or the 49th percentile. Its recent history is a roller coaster: the school climbed to the 86th percentile in 2021-22, slid to the 33rd by 2024-25, then recovered to the 49th in 2025-26, a 16-point rebound in one year. About 88% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, one of the higher-need enrollments among nearby schools.

Math is Lincoln's clear strength. In 2025-26, 37.78% of students met math standards — well above the district's 26.30% and the state's 27.85%, a rare case of a school outpacing the state while its own district lags behind it. ELA sits at 37.57%, essentially matching the district and about 7 points below the state. What's unusual locally is that Lincoln's math and ELA scores are nearly identical, while the district overall shows a roughly 13-point gap favoring ELA. Fifth-grade science (35.9%) also beats district and state. Compared with nearby schools, Lincoln ranks fourth of nine same-district schools in math: Red Rock Elementary (90th percentile) and Jefferson Elementary (76th) outperform it, while Del Norte Elementary, Stagecoach Elementary, and Catherine A. Miller Elementary trail well behind.

Grade by grade, results are uneven. Third-grade ELA is a strength at 52.27%, about 8 points above the state. Fourth-grade ELA is the biggest weak spot at 30.23% — roughly 10 points below the district and 20 below the state — and fifth grade runs at or below benchmarks across subjects. The school also shows a consistent pattern of serving female and English-learner students more effectively than male and low-income students. Two data cautions: the reported 6:1 student-teacher ratio looks like a reporting error, and 6th-grade results appear despite the school serving PK–5.