Chee Dodge Elementary

Chee Dodge Elementary is a small public school in Yatahey, New Mexico, serving 261 students in grades PK–5 — the second-smallest enrollment among the ten nearby elementary schools compared here — and it is one of nine elementary schools in the Gallup-McKinley City Schools district, where roughly 85% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

What makes the school stand out is how far it has climbed. In 2025–2026 it ranked 96th of 346 New Mexico elementary schools — the 72nd percentile with 4 stars — while its district as a whole is rated 2 stars and ranks 60th of 87 (31st percentile). Improvement has been steady for seven straight reporting years, from the 2nd percentile in 2014–2015 to 72nd today. Math is the defining strength: proficiency is nearly 19 points above the state and more than 20 points above the district, and it holds in every grade tested. Among nearby schools, Chee Dodge ranks third of ten in math and fourth in language arts, behind only Red Rock Elementary (5 stars, 90th percentile), Jefferson Elementary, and — in reading alone — Indian Hills Elementary. It sits clearly ahead of the six local schools below the state median, including Twin Lakes Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Del Norte Elementary, Tobe Turpen Elementary, Catherine A. Miller Elementary, and Stagecoach Elementary.

Subgroup results reinforce the trend: measured by rank, the school's effectiveness for Native American students has been in the 84th–91st percentile range for three consecutive years, for low-income students 82nd percentile, and for male students 87th percentile in 2025–2026. The clearest internal gap is between male (87th) and female (60th) students. The school's soft spot is 3rd grade reading (40.00 versus a state figure of 44.33), even as 3rd grade math (37.93 versus 26.24) is well above the state. Some 2025–2026 figures for nearby campuses are suppressed by the state for privacy, so those comparisons are incomplete.