The top reported proficiency rate is 32% in English language arts. The lowest is 10% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Lew Wallace Elementary
Lew Wallace Elementary sits on Sixth Street NW in Albuquerque, serving kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within Albuquerque Public Schools. The campus is in a part of the city close to the downtown grid and Old Town, where Central Avenue and the railroad tracks form the axes that divide Albuquerque into its four quadrants. This is a compact urban setting rather than a suburban one, with the walkable nodes of Old Town Plaza and the downtown entertainment district nearby, though Albuquerque overall is a sprawling, car-oriented city.
The school serves a small enrollment for its grade band, and its student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller shares of American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, white, and multiracial students. Every student in the building qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which reflects the economic conditions of the surrounding neighborhood. The zip code the school sits in carries home values well below both the state and national benchmarks, and renting here costs notably less per month than carrying a mortgage would at current rates. That affordability gap, with rents running lower than ownership costs by a meaningful margin, shapes the housing market families in this area are navigating. We looked for data on English learner identification and special education enrollment but found none reported, so those population details are not available here.
On state assessments from the most recent school year, Lew Wallace posted mixed results across subjects. English language arts proficiency landed at a level where roughly a third of tested students met or exceeded standards, a stronger showing than the school's other subjects. Math proficiency was considerably lower, with only about one in ten tested students reaching proficient or above. Science results came in at the bottom of the reported range, based on a smaller tested group that includes the upper elementary grades. Average scale scores were not available, and participation rates were not reported. A parent considering this school may want to look into the math and science results further with the school directly, asking what interventions and supports are in place, especially in the early grades where foundations are built. The statewide assessment itself did not change name or cut scores in this period, so the results are comparable to prior reporting frameworks, though only a single year of data was available and no trend could be established.
Albuquerque as a city anchors the school's broader context. It is New Mexico's largest city, home to the University of New Mexico, Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base, and a growing film and media sector with a Netflix production hub. The Rio Grande bosque runs through the center of the city, and the Sandia Mountains rise to the east. Population has been roughly flat to slightly declining in recent estimates, and the city has promoted affordable housing access as a strategic priority. Albuquerque Public Schools operates schools distributed across all quadrants rather than from a centralized campus, and the district is one of the larger ones in the country. We searched for recent district-level policy, curriculum, or funding changes that would affect families at Lew Wallace but found nothing substantive to report.
Some gaps in the available data are worth naming plainly. The school's Title I status was not reported, though the universal free or reduced-price lunch rate suggests it likely participates in some form of federal support. No discipline data, course access information, staffing figures, or attendance metrics were available. No neighbor comparison or program offerings were provided. Civil rights data was absent as well. These omissions mean the picture here leans heavily on assessment results and demographic context, and a family wanting a fuller understanding of school climate, teacher experience, or enrichment offerings would need to ask the school directly for that information.
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