The top reported proficiency rate is 53% in English language arts. The lowest is 33% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Santa Teresa Elementary
Santa Teresa Elementary sits in the Gadsden Independent School District, serving pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in this unincorporated corner of Doña Ana County. The campus on Commerciantes Drive draws from a community that has grown rapidly over the past two decades, nearly doubling in population, with the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, a rail park, and the Doña Ana County International Jetport shaping the local economy. Publicly reported data describes the area as car-dependent, oriented around highways connecting to El Paso, with construction and food services as leading employment sectors and homeownership above the national average. Housing values in the school's zip code sit just below the state benchmark and below the national one, with rents that appear modest relative to income.
The school's enrollment is mid-sized for an elementary serving this grade band, and its student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, reflecting the broader community, where a large majority of residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on English learners and students with individualized education programs was not reported, so a parent wanting to understand special-population services would need to ask the school directly. The same applies to staffing ratios, attendance patterns, and disciplinary data, none of which appeared in the available records.
On state assessments from the most recent school year, Santa Teresa Elementary shows a clear split between literacy and quantitative subjects. In English language arts, a majority of tested students reached proficiency, which stands as a genuine strength for a school serving a high-poverty community. Math proficiency landed around a third of tested students, and science was in a similar range, though science results draw from a small tested cohort. Average scale scores were not reported, and participation rate data was missing, so the proficiency figures should be read with that limitation in mind. No multi-year trend is available yet, so there is no way to tell from this data whether these results represent improvement, decline, or stability. A parent trying to gauge direction would want to ask the school for prior-year comparisons and any internal growth measures the district tracks.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Title I status was not specified in the available data, though the universal free-or-reduced-price-lunch rate suggests the school likely operates under a community eligibility provision or similar federal designation. Course access, program offerings, and extracurricular information were not provided. The Gadsden district brief turned up little of lasting parent-relevant change, with no recent referendums, curriculum shifts, or budget matters surfaced by the search.
The community context matters for families considering this area. Santa Teresa has pushed to incorporate as its own city, a process still working through legal channels after a neighboring jurisdiction's annexation attempt was rejected. Industrial growth around the port and rail park continues to drive development interest, and median property values have been climbing. The community lacks a traditional downtown or municipal government, and no public parks, library branches, or transit systems were identified in available sources. Civic life appears organized around the schools and the commercial corridors along Pete Domenici Highway.
For a family weighing Santa Teresa Elementary, the picture is one of a community-anchor school in a fast-growing, working-class border-adjacent town. Literacy instruction appears to be producing results worth respecting, while math and science outcomes sit lower and may warrant a closer conversation with school leadership about how those subjects are being approached and supported. The absence of staffing, program, and special-population data means a prospective parent should bring specific questions to an enrollment visit rather than relying on what is publicly reported.
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