The top reported proficiency rate is 61% in Science. The lowest is 43% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on J Paul Taylor Academy
J. Paul Taylor Academy is a single-school charter district in New Mexico serving kindergarten through eighth grade. It operates as an independent charter, and its contract was renewed for a term running through 2026, which secures its continued operation for families currently enrolled or considering enrollment. The district carries an authorized enrollment cap, and its current enrollment sits at that level, with students distributed evenly across the nine grade levels. Each grade holds a similarly sized cohort, which gives the school a consistent feel from year to year rather than swelling or shrinking at particular transition points.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a smaller white population and a very small Asian population. The school does not report free-or-reduced-price-lunch data, so the economic profile of enrolled families is not visible from available records. English-learner and special-education counts are also missing, which means a parent looking for information about those support services would need to ask the school directly.
On New Mexico's state assessments for the 2024-25 school year, J. Paul Taylor Academy's results paint a picture of relative academic strength in literacy and science, with math lagging behind. In English language arts, well over half of tested students in grades three through eight scored proficient or above, a result that stands out as a clear strength. Science performance was even stronger, with a substantial majority of the smaller group of tested students reaching proficiency. Math was the softer area, with somewhat less than half of tested students scoring proficient or above. A parent weighing this school may want to look into math instruction and support further with the school, particularly if their child tends to need more structure in that subject. Average scale scores were not reported for any subject, and participation rates were not available, so the proficiency figures are the primary academic window the data provides. No multi-year trend data was available, so it is not possible to say from the records whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability.
Because this is a K-8 entity, there is no graduation rate, no AP or dual-credit coursework, and no high school level program data to review. Those gaps reflect the grade band, not a reporting omission. Similarly, civil-rights data, course-access details, staffing ratios, attendance figures, and discipline records were not provided in the available data set.
The district brief, drawn from publicly reported state education department documents, describes a project-based learning model, a Spanish language acquisition program, and a healthy-living curriculum as the school's three defining programmatic features. These elements give the school a distinct pedagogical identity that differs from a conventional direct-instruction elementary or middle school. Families whose children learn well through hands-on, cross-disciplinary projects and who value early Spanish exposure may find this approach appealing. The healthy-living curriculum suggests an attention to wellness that extends beyond academics, though the specific components of that curriculum are not detailed in the available records.
No locale brief was provided for the community where the school is located, so there is no housing market context, no information about the surrounding town or neighborhood, and no demographic or economic description of the area beyond what the school's own enrollment data shows. The school's street address, city, and zip code were not included in the profile data. A parent researching the practical logistics of attendance, transportation, or the character of the surrounding area would need to look beyond what is available here.
No comparison fact-set was provided, so the school's academic results cannot be positioned against neighboring districts or charters in its county or region. The proficiency rates stand on their own as statewide assessment results without local context for whether they are above or below nearby options.
What the data does convey is a small, stable charter school with a defined educational philosophy, solid literacy and science outcomes, a math result that merits a closer look, and a student population that is majority Hispanic. The charter renewal through 2026 gives current and prospective families a window of certainty about the school's continued existence. For a family seeking a project-based K-8 environment with Spanish language instruction in a small-school setting, this is a place worth exploring, with the understanding that several key data points about community context, student support services, and economic demographics are not available in public records and would need to come from direct conversation with the school.
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