Summary:
In zip code 79901 of El Paso, Texas, there are two middle schools serving grades 6 through 8: Guillen Middle and El Paso Leadership Academy, both located in a high-poverty area where over 97% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
El Paso Leadership Academy, a charter school in the El Paso Leadership Academy district, stands out as the higher-performing school in this zip code. It outperformed Guillen Middle in 6 out of 7 tested subject areas in the 2024-2025 school year, including a remarkable 69.44% proficiency rate in Algebra I—far exceeding the state average of 47.01% and Guillen's 7.58%. The charter school also reported a 0.0% dropout rate, compared to Guillen's 0.2%. In contrast, Guillen Middle, part of the El Paso Independent School District (Isd), has been ranked in the bottom 3% of Texas middle schools for three consecutive years, with a critical weakness in mathematics—0% of its 7th graders were proficient in math in 2024-2025.
Despite both schools serving similarly disadvantaged populations, El Paso Leadership Academy achieves better academic results with a larger student-teacher ratio (18.2 vs. 13.7) and slightly higher spending per student ($12,413 vs. $11,780). This suggests that while economic challenges are significant, they are not insurmountable, as the charter school has demonstrated capacity for high performance in specific areas like advanced math and science. The data shows a clear performance gap between the two schools, with Guillen Middle requiring immediate intervention, particularly in its math program.
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