Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 88120

ZIP code 88120 covers Grady, a small rural community in New Mexico, and contains exactly one middle-level campus — Grady Middle School, serving grades 6–8 with 46 students as part of Grady Municipal Schools. Because there is only one middle school here, there is no local peer to compare it against, so the meaningful comparisons are against its district and the state.

By those measures, the school stands out. In 2025–2026 it ranked 20th of 191 New Mexico middle schools — roughly the top 10% — and earned 5 stars, while its district ranks 5th of 87 districts statewide. Proficiency runs well above state averages: about 65% in English language arts versus roughly 45% statewide, about 61% in math versus about 28% statewide, and 50% in grade-8 science versus about 34% statewide. Math shows the largest gap, at roughly double the state rate, and the 7th-grade math figure of 75% is the most extreme school-versus-state comparison in the record. Math also improved sharply year over year (about 45% to about 61%), ELA rose slightly, and grade-8 science slipped (about 58% to 50%). Grade-8 math is suppressed by the state for privacy, so it is unknown here.

Context matters: nearly 96% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and the student–teacher ratio is 13.1, implying a small faculty. With roughly 16 students per grade, one student changing categories can move a result by about 6 points, so single-year swings deserve caution. One notable pattern: ELA is the only subject where the school trails its own district, while it leads in math. The most dependable takeaway is consistency — this school exceeds state proficiency in every grade and subject where data is published, and that steadiness is a stronger signal than any one year's movement.