Valencia Middle School

Valencia Middle School is a 7th–8th grade campus at 22 Marlink Rd in Los Lunas, NM, serving 445 students in the Los Lunas Public Schools district, which itself ranks in the bottom third of New Mexico districts. The school currently holds 1 star, ranked 138th of 191 middle schools (28th percentile) in 2025-2026—a new low in a decade-long slide from 3 stars and the 57th–69th percentile a decade ago. Nearly all students (99.78%) qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and class sizes are large at 21.1 students per teacher, the highest in its comparison group.

The most striking comparison is Los Lunas Middle, just 5.75 miles away in the same district, serving the same grades and the same near-universal poverty population. It earns 3 stars and the 57th percentile, outperforming the school by 13.2 points in language arts and 10.3 points in math on all-grades proficiency. The school's 8th grade is the drag: 7th grade is near state norms, but 8th grade ELA is 14.7 points below the state and 8th grade science is 12.6 points below. Math is relatively stronger against peers (second among six local schools) but still 5.5 points below the state. More than half of 8th graders are below proficiency in every core subject.

Performance is weak across the board, pointing to school-wide causes rather than a targeted issue. Class size is the one visible structural lever, but the schools with the smallest classes—Polk Middle at 9.1 and Harrison Middle at 9.7—have the worst outcomes, so reducing class size alone is unlikely to fix things. Belen Middle and Central Elementary also sit nearby. The loss of the second star in 2025-2026 is the key inflection: watch 2026-2027 data. If the school stabilizes in the 30s percentile, recent decline may be cohort-specific noise; if it continues toward the 20s, the trajectory is worse. The relatively normal 7th grade performance this year is the best news—whether that cohort holds up as 8th graders is the most important thing to track.