Hermosa Heights Elementary

Hermosa Heights Elementary is a PK–5 school at 1655 East Amador Ave in Las Cruces, New Mexico, enrolling 408 students as part of Las Cruces Public Schools. Nearly every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch — reported at roughly 100% for the past three years — so this is a high-need campus. The district itself sits mid-pack statewide (49th of 87 districts), but Hermosa Heights Elementary ranks in the 18th percentile of New Mexico elementary schools with 1 star, meaning it performs well below its own district's standing, not merely below the state.

Proficiency is low in both subjects: 33.55% in English language arts and 15.79% in math, roughly 11–13 percentage points behind both the district and the state in every subject. The most useful comparison is with nearby LCPS schools serving the same population — Hillrise Elementary, Central Elementary, and Conlee Elementary all enroll about 100% low-income students yet reach 50–56% in ELA and 26–39% in math. Math is the deeper weakness, with 3rd and 5th grade math both reported as under 20%. Fourth grade ELA (42.86%) is the school's bright spot. The longer trend runs downward: Hermosa Heights ranked in the 64th percentile in 2017-18 and has since slid to the teens and low twenties.

Resources do not appear to be the constraint. Class size has fallen to 11.3 students per teacher, among the smallest in the nearby group, yet comparable schools with larger classes get better results, and no clear link between class size and outcomes shows up here. In 2025-26 the school slipped in ELA while several similar schools posted large gains. Every student group the state reports is below the state median, and English language learner results — once a genuine strength — are no longer reported. The question to watch: whether the strong 4th grade cohort holds up in 5th grade, and whether the smaller classes begin to show up in scores.