The top reported proficiency rate is 88% in Math. The lowest is 84% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Des Moines Elementary
Des Moines Elementary sits in a tiny village on the high plains of Union County, New Mexico, surrounded by cattle ranches and within sight of Sierra Grande, the largest shield volcano in the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field. The village has been losing residents for decades, and publicly reported estimates put the current population below a hundred. Housing vacancy is high, with many of the village's homes sitting empty, and no new development or growth initiatives surfaced in the research. The local economy runs on educational services, construction, and agriculture, with no major named employers. There is no transit, no public parks were identified, and the built environment is essentially rural residential lots and open ranchland. The school district office shares the village address on Des Moines Avenue, and civic life centers on City Hall and the school itself.
The school serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade and has a small enrollment, with roughly a dozen or fewer students per grade. Its student body is mostly white, with a substantial Hispanic share and a small number of Black students. The free and reduced-price lunch rate is low, with only a small fraction of students qualifying, which stands out in a rural New Mexico setting where higher rates are more common. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so those population shares remain unknown. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and no Title I status was reported.
Academic results are a clear strength. On the most recent state assessments, proficiency rates in both math and English language arts were high, with math results especially strong and reading not far behind. These numbers place the school well above typical state averages for New Mexico. Science proficiency results were suppressed, which commonly happens when the number of tested students in a grade band is very small; a parent may want to look into this further with the school, but suppression in this context reflects the small testing population rather than signaling a weak result. Only one year of assessment data was available, so there is no trend to report and no way to judge whether these levels are stable or changing over time.
Because the school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report, and the absence of that metric simply reflects the grade band. The same applies to AP courses, dual-credit pathways, and career programs, which are not part of what this school offers. No program offerings, course access details, staffing numbers, attendance figures, or discipline data were provided. The district brief turned up little in the way of parent-relevant changes, so there is nothing to report on recent initiatives or shifts.
For a parent reading this, Des Moines Elementary looks like a small, rural community school where students are posting strong test results in the core subjects that are tested. The peer environment is intimate by necessity, given the enrollment size, and the surrounding community is quiet, agricultural, and contracting. Families considering this area should understand that they are choosing a deeply rural setting with limited services and infrastructure, balanced against a school that appears to be delivering solid academic outcomes for the children it serves. What is missing from the available data, including special population figures, staffing, and longer-term performance trends, would be worth asking about directly.
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