Rosendo Benavides Elementary

Rosendo Benavides Elementary is a small PK-5 school in Sullivan City, TX, serving 267 students as part of the La Joya Independent School District (Isd). The school has consistently ranked in the bottom 20% of Texas elementary schools over the past decade, with its most recent state ranking placing it in the 11th percentile. This is notably lower than nearby schools like Sam Fordyce Elementary, which serves a similar student population just 2.6 miles away but ranks in the 71st percentile, and Tabasco Elementary at the 48th percentile.

One of the school's most unique strengths is its bilingual program. Students taking the STAAR Spanish Reading exam in 4th and 5th grades achieved proficiency rates of 57% and 67%, respectively—far exceeding both the district and state averages for the Spanish test. This suggests a targeted and effective bilingual instructional strategy. However, the school shows extreme volatility in other areas. For example, Special Education students ranked in the 75th percentile in 2024-2025 but dropped to the 12th percentile the following year. Similarly, Gifted and Talented students fell from the 57th percentile to the 0th percentile in the same period. Science remains a persistent weakness, with 5th grade scores ranging from just 5% to 11% proficient over recent years.

Despite spending $14,098 per student—higher than all nearby La Joya ISD schools, including the higher-performing Sam Fordyce Elementary ($12,301)—academic outcomes remain low. The school also has a low student-teacher ratio of 12.7, which could allow for more individualized attention, but this advantage has not translated into consistent success. The comparison with Sam Fordyce Elementary is particularly striking: both schools serve highly economically disadvantaged communities, yet Sam Fordyce outperforms Rosendo Benavides in nearly every subject and grade level, often by wide margins (e.g., 3rd grade math: 56% vs. 15% proficient). This suggests that the challenges at Rosendo Benavides are likely related to school-specific factors like leadership, teaching quality, or school culture, rather than student demographics alone.