The top reported proficiency rate is 62% in Math. The lowest is 35% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Ricardo El
Ricardo Elementary is a pre-kindergarten through fourth-grade school in Ricardo ISD, a small district in Kleberg County, located just outside Kingsville in South Texas. The school draws an enrollment typical for a rural elementary of its grade span, and the student body is predominantly Hispanic, with a smaller share of white students. Roughly half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which points to a school community with meaningful economic diversity.
Texas uses a three-tier STAAR framework: Approaches, Meets, and Masters grade level. At Ricardo Elementary, the strongest results are at the Approaches tier, where the vast majority of students across all tested subjects reach that baseline threshold. That is a real sign that most children are not falling dramatically below grade-level expectations. The Meets tier, the standard most educators consider the working benchmark for grade-level readiness, falls in the moderate range across the school, with math performing somewhat comparably to reading. Fourth grade, in particular, stands out: math and reading proficiency at that grade are meaningfully higher than third grade and fifth grade results, which is worth noting even if the reason is not clear from the data alone.
Science at fifth grade is the softer spot. Fewer than half of students there reach the Meets standard, and the share reaching Masters is low. A parent whose child is preparing for the fifth-grade science STAAR may want to ask the school directly about how that content is supported. Social studies, tested at a single upper-elementary grade, shows a similar gap between most students reaching Approaches and far fewer reaching Meets or Masters. These patterns are common in high-need rural schools but they are worth naming plainly.
Relative to the other districts in Kleberg County, Ricardo ISD's overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint of that four-district set. That is a reasonable position, not a standout, but not a laggard either.
Multi-year trend data is only available for the most recent year, so there is no way to assess whether performance is rising, flat, or declining. A parent who wants that context would need to ask the school directly or check the Texas Education Agency's accountability history.
Data on English learner status, IEP rates, chronic absenteeism, discipline, and course access were not available in the provided data, so those dimensions cannot be described here. The district brief search was exhausted without confirming any specific recent changes or initiatives at Ricardo ISD, so that is left out rather than guessed.
The school sits within the Kingsville area, a small South Texas city shaped by Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Naval Air Station Kingsville, and the historic King Ranch. Publicly reported sources describe the city as a Texas Main Street community with a walkable historic downtown, though most of daily life outside that core is auto-oriented. The economy blends higher education, military, ranching, healthcare, and agriculture. Housing in this market is priced well below both the Texas statewide median and the national median, with rents that remain relatively affordable as a share of income, and the area has seen modest home price appreciation recently. Population has been roughly flat to slightly declining, though publicly reported sources point to a large-scale direct air capture energy project as a potential economic catalyst that could bring construction and permanent employment to the region in coming years.
For a family with young children, Ricardo Elementary offers a small, community-rooted setting with a student body that is largely Hispanic and roughly half economically disadvantaged, where baseline attainment is solid and upper-elementary academic depth remains an area to watch.
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