The top reported proficiency rate is 72% in English language arts. The lowest is 47% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Hurley Elementary
Hurley Elementary sits in a small former copper mining town in Grant County, part of the Cobre Consolidated School District. The town of Hurley was built by the Chino Mining Company as a company town, and mining still defines the place. Freeport-McMoRan's Chino Mine lies just east of town and remains the dominant employer, though the old smelter was shut down and its landmark stacks demolished years ago. The town has been losing population steadily over decades, with only a handful of business establishments and a compact residential grid centered on Cortez Avenue. Most errands require a vehicle, with Bayard a short drive north and Silver City the nearest larger hub for services.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade and is small for its grade band. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which reflects the economic profile of the community. The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a small share of white students and no other racial or ethnic groups reported in the data. Information on English learners and special education populations was not available, so those dimensions of the school's student support picture are missing here. A parent may want to ask the school directly about services in those areas.
On the most recent state assessments, Hurley Elementary posted a strong reading result, with a solid majority of tested students scoring proficient or above in English language arts. Science proficiency was also above the midpoint, with most tested students meeting the bar. Math was the softer spot, with fewer than half of tested students reaching proficiency. This is a fact worth noting rather than a verdict, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school, particularly what supports or interventions are in place for students who are struggling with math. Only one year of data was available, so there is no trend to report. Whether these results represent an improvement, a decline, or a steady state is something the data does not tell us.
Because Hurley Elementary serves only early grades, there is no graduation rate, no AP or career pathway data, and no college-readiness measure to report. Those metrics apply to high schools and do not exist for this school. The same is true for course access and civil rights data, which were not provided.
The housing market in Hurley stands well below both state and national benchmarks, and recent values have dropped sharply year over year. Homes here are inexpensive by any standard, and the price-to-income ratio is modest. Rental data was not available. For a family considering a move, this means entry costs are low, but the market is thin and declining, which could affect resale. The economic context is one of a small community anchored by a single major employer, with limited local commerce and a shrinking population base.
We looked for recent parent-relevant changes in the Cobre district, including bond measures, curriculum shifts, or school board decisions, and found no coverage of lasting changes. The district brief turned up only basic profile information, so there is little to report on the district's current priorities or initiatives. A parent considering this school might reasonably ask the district office what is on the agenda.
What Hurley Elementary offers is a small, community-rooted elementary school in a quiet, rural town where reading and science results are a relative bright spot and math is the area asking for attention. The peer environment is tight-knit by nature of its size, and the economic context means the school is serving a population where universal poverty is the norm. For a family already in or near Hurley, it is a local school doing solid work in literacy and science, with an open question in math. For a family choosing from a wider area, the decision will likely come down to whether the small-town, mining-community setting and the school's academic profile fit what they are looking for.
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