Summary:
In zip code 79903 of El Paso, Texas, there are two elementary schools—Coldwell Elementary and Hillside Elementary—both serving grades PK through 5 within the El Paso Independent School District (ISD), an area where over 87% of students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Coldwell Elementary stands out as the higher-performing school overall, with a stronger state ranking trajectory and more consistent academic results. In the 2025-2026 school year, Coldwell ranked in the 56th percentile statewide, while Hillside ranked in the 40th percentile. Coldwell also outperformed Hillside in English-language Reading and Math proficiency, with average scores at or above the district level in most grade-level tests. Notably, Coldwell achieved a 4-star rating in 2023-2024, though it saw a sharper decline to a 3-star rating by 2025-2026, suggesting a specific challenge such as a cohort effect. Hillside, meanwhile, has experienced a slower, steady decline from the 57th percentile to the 40th percentile over the same period. Despite Hillside having a lower student-teacher ratio (11.3 vs. 13.5) and slightly higher per-student spending ($12,267 vs. $12,215), it consistently underperforms Coldwell, indicating that factors like instructional strategies or school leadership may be more critical than class size alone.
A key strength for both schools is their bilingual education programs, with Spanish-language STAAR test scores dramatically exceeding state averages—for example, 87.5% of Hillside’s 5th graders were proficient in Spanish Math compared to the state average of 22.32%. However, both schools struggle significantly with 5th Grade Science, where only 19.6% of Coldwell students and 28.9% of Hillside students were proficient, both below the state average of 29.6%. This highlights a clear area for district-wide improvement in science instruction.
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