Summary
La Fe Preparatory School is a small public charter elementary school in downtown El Paso, TX, serving 195 students in grades PK-5, and it operates as its own single-school district, the La Fe Preparatory School district. This school stands out for its exceptional performance in Mathematics, with a remarkable 100% proficiency rate in 3rd Grade Math on the STAAR test, more than double the state average and far exceeding nearby schools like Aoy Elementary, which achieved only 8.7% proficiency in the same grade and subject. However, La Fe's performance is highly volatile, with statewide rankings swinging from the 16th percentile to the 87th percentile in recent years, suggesting that its small size makes it sensitive to changes in student cohorts.
La Fe is particularly effective at serving its most vulnerable students, ranking in the 91st percentile for serving low socioeconomic status students and the 87th percentile for serving Hispanic students. This is a powerful achievement, especially when compared to its closest neighbor, Aoy Elementary, which serves a similar high-poverty demographic but has a 2-star rating and significantly lower test scores. The school also shows a unique strength in teaching math to Spanish-dominant students, with 5th Grade Spanish Math scores consistently outperforming the state average by wide margins, such as 45% versus 22.32% in the most recent testing year.
Despite its math excellence, La Fe has a persistent weakness in Science, with only 16.67% of 5th graders proficient in the subject, well below the state average. The school's high per-student spending of $13,078 and small class sizes may contribute to its ability to achieve top-tier results, but its extreme year-to-year volatility means that success is not guaranteed. For parents considering this school, La Fe offers a high-risk, high-reward environment that has proven it can deliver outstanding outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, but families should be aware of the inconsistency in performance across subjects and years.
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