Best Public Schools in Zip Code 88072

ZIP code 88072 (Vado, New Mexico) is home to exactly one public school: Vado Elementary, an elementary school serving grades PK–6 with 415 students, part of Gadsden Independent Schools. Because there are no other schools in the ZIP, there is nothing to compare it against locally — every judgment has to be made against the district and the state. The school has a relatively comfortable student–teacher ratio of 12.5 (about 33 teachers for 415 students), and 100% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, meaning the entire student body is economically disadvantaged by that measure.

On results, Vado Elementary ranks in the bottom fifth of New Mexico schools — 276th of 346 in 2025–2026, at the 20th percentile with 1 star — and it sits below its own district's standing (38th percentile, 2 stars). It trails Gadsden's averages in nearly every subject and grade, including all-grades English language arts (27.69% versus 43.1% district), all-grades math (21.54% versus 32.47%), 3rd grade ELA, 4th grade ELA, 6th grade ELA, and 6th grade math. The one clear bright spot is 4th grade math, where the school beats both benchmarks: 31.91% versus the district's 31.14% and the state's 27.23%. Notably, that is the only subject and grade in the data where the school clears the district bar.

The clearest weakness is 5th grade, which struggles across every subject: math at 13.46% versus a 45.08% district average, science at 13.46% versus 28.38% district and 32.24% state, and ELA reported only as under 20% against a state figure of 42.26%. Note that two values — 5th grade ELA and 3rd grade math — are state-suppressed and given only as "under 20%," meaning the true scores are unknown but lower than 20%; they should not be read as exact figures or as zeros. The encouraging news is that results are moving in the right direction: all-grades ELA rose from 25.54% to 27.69% and math from 19.91% to 21.54%, while the statewide percentile rank climbed from the 8th to the 20th. Science dipped slightly. The most actionable finding is that 4th grade math shows what the school can do, while the same students' 5th grade year is where performance drops sharply.