The top reported proficiency rate is 37% in Math. The lowest is 20% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Rusk El
Rusk Elementary sits on Copia Street in central El Paso, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade as part of El Paso ISD. Before going further, there is something a family needs to know first: publicly reported information confirms that Rusk was among the first wave of EPISD elementary closures, shutting down for the 2025-26 school year as part of the district's Destination District Redesign consolidation plan. If you are reading this to decide whether to enroll at Rusk, the campus is no longer accepting students. The profile here reflects the school's most recent operating year.
The student body was small for an elementary school, predominantly Hispanic, and almost entirely economically disadvantaged, with the vast majority of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offered instruction in both English and Spanish, as the state assessment data shows students in different grades were tested on the STAAR in Spanish and in English, indicating a bilingual or dual-language model was in place.
State testing results from the most recent year of operation paint a mixed picture. On Texas's STAAR, the school used three performance levels: Approaches Grade Level (the floor of passing), Meets Grade Level, and Masters Grade Level. Across all tested subjects, roughly two-thirds of students reached the Approaches threshold, which means they were passing by the state's minimum definition. About four in ten reached the Meets standard, which Texas considers on-track performance. The share reaching Masters, the highest level, was notably lower, around one in six students across subjects. ELA was the stronger area overall, with Meets-level performance in grades four and five in the mid-forties range. Math was similar in fourth grade but weaker in third and fifth. Science and social studies were the softest areas, with well under half of tested students reaching even the Approaches level in social studies.
Placed among districts in El Paso County, Rusk's overall proficiency index landed below the midpoint of the county comparison set. Trend data is limited to a single year, so there is no multi-year trajectory available to show whether performance was improving, declining, or holding steady.
Chronic absenteeism data and special population counts for English learners and students with IEPs were not reported in the data available here, so those dimensions of the school's environment cannot be characterized. The school held no charter or magnet designation.
The neighborhood around Copia Street is part of central El Paso's older residential fabric, a car-dependent area with modest housing costs that sit well below both the Texas and national medians. Rents in the surrounding zip code have been rising at a pace faster than inflation, though the area remains among the more affordable parts of a city that is itself one of the more affordable large metros in Texas. Fort Bliss, EPISD, Ysleta ISD, and the City of El Paso are the anchor employers for the metro. Franklin Mountains State Park, one of the largest urban wilderness parks in the country, borders the western and northern edges of the city, and the El Paso Public Library system serves neighborhoods across the metro.
For families in Rusk's former attendance zone, the practical question now is which receiving campus their child was assigned to and what programs that school offers. EPISD has been expanding Montessori, STEM, Fine Arts, and extended-day programs across campuses as part of the same redesign that produced the closures. The district is also weighing a bond election as soon as late 2026 that could fund facility upgrades and refrigerated air on aging campuses, which would carry property tax implications for homeowners. Families navigating this transition would benefit from contacting EPISD directly about current enrollment options and busing arrangements.
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