Summary
Thoreau Elementary is a PK–5 school in the rural community of Thoreau, New Mexico, with 359 students, serving a high-poverty population — about 9 in 10 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch (89.97% in 2024-2025). It is part of Gallup-McKinley City Schools, a district ranked 60th of 87 statewide. The school has generally placed in the bottom quarter of New Mexico elementary schools, ranking 279th of 346 (19th percentile, 1 star) in 2025-2026 — up from 317th of 345 (8th percentile) the year before, but still below district and state averages in most tested subjects. Although the school is listed as PK–5, 2025-2026 test data also includes 6th grade, an apparent reporting anomaly.
Academic results lag local and state norms. In 2025-2026, all-grade language arts proficiency was 31.4% (district 36.49%, state 43.34%), and math was 17.44% (district 23.81%, state 25.54%). Fifth-grade science was a particular weak spot at 14.89%, less than half the state's 31.97%. Results also vary sharply by grade: 3rd grade was a relative strength, with reading at 42.86% and math at 33.33% — both above district and state — while 5th grade fell far behind, with reading at 14.89% and math under 20%. Fourth grade was mixed. Because grade-level groups are small, year-to-year swings should be read cautiously.
Compared with Crownpoint Elementary, a same-district peer 19.3 miles away serving a similarly high-poverty population, Thoreau trails in most all-grade measures — about 10 points in math and roughly 24 points in 5th-grade science — though Thoreau is ahead in 3rd-grade reading and math and 4th-grade reading. Bluewater Elementary scores much higher, but it is far smaller (63 students), with a much lower poverty rate (61.9%) and student-teacher ratio (5.7), so it is not a like-for-like comparison. Within the school, recent gains were concentrated among female students and low-income students, while Native American students remained in the lower quartile statewide. Several nearby high-poverty schools report no test data, and some scores are suppressed, so comparisons are directional.
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