Summary:
ZIP code 87121 in Albuquerque, New Mexico is home to nine elementary schools — seven Albuquerque Public Schools campuses and two charter schools — serving 4,904 students across PK–8, K–8, PK–5, PK–2, and 3–5 grade spans, in an area where essentially every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch (98.03% to 100%, averaging about 99.6%).
The standout is Mission Achievement And Success 2.0, the largest school in the set (1,040 students) and the only one above the state in all three tested subjects: 67.55% in Language Arts, 39.86% in Math, and 60.49% in Science, versus statewide rates of 43.34%, 25.54%, and 33.4%. It ranks 68th of 346 schools (80th percentile) and improved from 57th percentile the prior year. Rio Grande Academy Of Fine Arts also shines, ranking 103rd of 346 (70th percentile) with 54.35% ELA — well above the state — though its math is 16.79%, below the state, and its science score is suppressed; it jumped from 26th to 70th percentile in a year. Among APS schools, Edward Gonzales Elementary leads (17th percentile, 39.7% ELA, 15.15% math), while Alamosa Elementary is lowest at 1st percentile (15.48% ELA, 9.47% math, all-grade science under 10%).
Three patterns matter for parents. First, math is a system-wide weakness: the best APS math score, 15.15% at Edward Gonzales, is far below the state's 25.54%. Second, poverty and class size do not explain the gaps — all schools serve similarly high-poverty populations, and MAS 2.0 posts the best results with the highest student-teacher ratio (15.7), while Carlos Rey Elementary has the lowest (9.6) yet ranks in the 7th percentile. Third, rankings shift sharply year to year, and many figures are suppressed or bounded (for example, Alamosa's 5th-grade math and science are under 10%), so those values should be read as ranges, not exact scores.
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