Marfa Schools, Marfa TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Marfa Schools

Marfa Schools is a small rural school serving pre-kindergarten through grade twelve in Marfa, a high-desert county seat in Presidio County in West Texas. The enrollment is small, with a composition that is predominantly Hispanic and a majority of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is located in the town center rather than on a removed campus, and sits within a community that has experienced rapid property-value inflation, tight housing, and ongoing tension between a working-ranch heritage and a contemporary art tourism economy.

Academic performance is low across subjects and grades. In English language arts, results are mixed by grade: third and fourth graders showed below-state-threshold proficiency rates in the low-to-mid range, while fifth through eighth graders performed better, with eighth grade approaching a majority meeting or exceeding proficiency. Math shows steeper challenges. Third through eighth graders posted very low rates of meeting or exceeding standards, with some grades nearly at single-digit proficiency. Science proficiency was also low in both tested grades. Social studies in eighth grade showed zero students meeting standards. The data available for 2024-25 spans only one year, so no trend direction is visible; a parent may want to look into further context with the school about recent changes and long-term direction.

The broader context matters here. Marfa ISD has undergone significant recent shifts. The district switched to a four-day instructional week in fall 2023, then reversed course and is returning to a five-day calendar for the 2026-2027 school year, tied partly to the district being on a state School Improvement Plan that requires more instructional days. This calendar volatility has directly affected family scheduling for three years. Starting in 2025-26, the district adopted Bluebonnet Learning, a state-developed structured curriculum with detailed lesson plans, a change meant to address improvement priorities. These moves signal institutional effort, but they also signal that the school is working through challenges rather than operating from a position of strength.

A bond referendum for a new K-12 campus and career-technology building was rejected by voters in 2022, and the district has not pursued a replacement, meaning facility concerns persist. The school does participate in the Big Bend Rural Initiative for Success in Education, a regional career and technical education collaborative with neighboring Alpine and Marathon districts, which expands college and career pathways for high school students.

Marfa's housing market has become expensive and constrained in recent years, with median home prices now above the national median and short-term rentals limiting residential stock. Affordability pressures have led the Marfa Housing Authority to add modular units, some occupied by school staff including an administrator and teacher. Employment is anchored by public-sector institutions: the school district itself, Presidio County government, the U.S. Border Patrol, and the Texas Department of Public Safety, alongside tourism, hospitality, and ranching. The town is small, walkable in its historic downtown, and car-dependent for outlying areas and the hour-long drive to Alpine or longer to El Paso.

For families considering Marfa Schools, the picture is one of a school in transition, with low current academic results, recent curriculum and calendar changes aimed at improvement, constrained local housing, and a tight-knit community economy dominated by public employment and art tourism. This is a place where enrollment is small enough that family engagement and relationships with individual teachers can matter, but where academic attainment is significantly below state benchmarks and the district is explicitly focused on improvement rather than consolidation. It is a choice for families committed to a small-town setting and willing to engage closely with the school's work to rebuild, not a school to choose for established academic strength.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=80%Cohort of 26 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

1,779 schools plotted. 59 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 37%

School 7% · District 7%

▼ 33 pts below state median

Grade 429%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 17%

▼ 24 pts below state median

Grade 65%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 29 pts below state median

Grade 75%

School 5% · District 5%

▼ 22 pts below state median

Grade 818%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 24 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 329%

School 29% · District 29%

▼ 17 pts below state median

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 43%

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 50%

▼ 4 pts below state median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 45%

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 55%

even with state median

Science

Grade 59%

School 9% · District 9%

▼ 14 pts below state median

Grade 827%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 15 pts below state median

Social studies

Grade 80%

School 0% · District 0%

▼ 24 pts below state median

This schoolMARFA ISD, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.