Summary:
ZIP code 87323 is served by exactly one middle school: Thoreau Middle, located at 8 Hawk Circle in Thoreau, New Mexico, which educates 362 students in grades 6–8 as part of Gallup-McKinley City Schools. Because it is the only middle-grade option in this ZIP code, families here have a single public choice. For 2025–2026 the school earned 1 star and ranked 165 out of 191 schools statewide, putting it at the 14th percentile. Its district is ranked 60 out of 87 at the 31st percentile with 2 stars, so the school is performing below an already below-average district.
Academically, Thoreau Middle trails both its district and the state in every subject reported for 2025–2026. Science is the clearest weakness: 8th graders scored 11.39% proficient on NM Combined Science and 11.54% on NM-ASR Science, versus district scores around 29.6–29.8% and state scores around 34.2–34.3%. Math is also low, particularly in 8th grade at 11.54–11.69%, compared with roughly 18.4–18.6% in the district and 20.3–20.5% statewide; 7th-grade math is stronger at about 18.8–19.4% but still below both benchmarks. English language arts is the relative bright spot, with proficiency generally in the 27–29% range, though that still trails the district by roughly 9–13 percentage points and the state by roughly 16–18 points.
Two other patterns stand out for parents. First, results slipped sharply year over year: in 2024–2025 the school was essentially even with the district in ELA (32.56% versus 32.57%) and within about 1 point in math and science, but 2025–2026 gaps widened considerably, and 8th-grade science fell 13.27 points while the district improved 3.84 points. Second, the school has stayed in the bottom quartile for three straight years — 18th percentile in 2023–2024, 24th in 2024–2025, and 14th in 2025–2026, with 1 star each year. The school reports 83.15% free/reduced lunch and a low 7.7 student-teacher ratio, and the lowest performance is concentrated in the 8th-grade cohort, especially in math and science.
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