Tularosa High

Tularosa High is a small public high school serving 303 students in grades 9–12 in the town of Tularosa, New Mexico — a small-town community in the south-central part of the state where the nearest alternative high schools, Alamogordo High (about 13 miles away, with 1,440 students) and Cloudcroft High (about 18 miles away, with 138 students), are a considerable drive from home.

For parents weighing this school, the most important fact may be that it is performing better than its district's reputation suggests. Tularosa Municipal Schools is rated 69th of 87 New Mexico districts (21st percentile, 1 star), while the high school itself ranked 66th of 132 state high schools in 2025–26 — the 50th percentile, 3 stars. It also clears the New Mexico average in all three tested grade-11 subjects: 38.57% in English language arts (state 36.78%), 38.03% in science (state 34.02%), and 12.86% in math (state 12.72%). Its 91.4% graduation rate for 2024–25 is well above the state's 80.6%, and it followed two years above 91% after a dip to 67.0% and 71.8% in 2021–22 and 2022–23.

Compared with nearby schools, Tularosa posts the highest graduation rate of the three — 91.4% against Cloudcroft High's 90.8% and Alamogordo High's 81.0% — and smaller classes than Alamogordo, at 13 students per teacher versus 14.9. Nearly every student here qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch (99.67%), a far higher share than at Cloudcroft High (39.86%), yet the two schools' test results are close. Math is the clear weak spot, but it is a regional and statewide weakness. Low-income students and, most recently, male students are scoring at or above the school's overall level rather than below it. Because enrollment is small, a single year's numbers can swing widely; the two-year direction of travel is the more reliable signal.