Best Middle Schools in Zip Code 88252

ZIP code 88252 is home to exactly one middle school: Jal Junior High, which serves grades 6 through 8 with 119 students enrolled and a student–teacher ratio of 10.9 — roughly one teacher for every 11 students. It is the only middle school in Jal Public Schools, a small rural district in southeastern New Mexico, and it accounts for the district's entire 6–8 population. Over three years the school climbed from 122nd of 165 (26th percentile, 1 star) in 2023–24 to 97th of 192 (49th percentile, 3 stars), and then 92nd of 191 (52nd percentile, 3 stars) in 2025–26 — a 26-point percentile gain that moved it from the bottom quarter to the top half of New Mexico middle schools.

Reading is the school's clear strength. In 2025–26, 8th-grade English language arts reached 60% proficient on the NM-MSSA versus 43.85% statewide, and the school's all-grades ELA results beat the state by about 4 points on both assessment measures. ELA proficiency also rose year over year, from 46.9% to 49.06%, widening the gap over the state from +2.7 to +4.4 points, and 8th-grade science edged just above the state at 37.14%. Mathematics is the persistent weakness: all-grades math sits at roughly 18%, about 8–10 points below the state, and 8th-grade math in 2025–26 was reported only as under 20%, with no exact figure available.

Families should note two useful cautions. First, Jal Junior High looks much stronger than its district's overall label — the district ranked 78th of 87 (10th percentile, 1 star) — because those district-wide numbers include other grade spans, while at the middle-school grade levels the school and district figures are identical. Second, grade cohorts hold roughly 35–40 students, so one student is worth about 2.5–3 percentage points and small swings should not be over-read. With 100% of students on free or reduced lunch and a small-class environment, the school combines high poverty with above-state reading results. The pattern to watch is whether its reading and science momentum can carry into math, especially in 8th grade, without eroding the reading gains.