John & Olive Hinojosa El, Rio Grande City TX

Original Research by School Decision on John & Olive Hinojosa El

John & Olive Hinojosa Elementary serves pre-K through fifth grade in Rio Grande City, a community in southeastern Starr County on the Texas-Mexico border. The school has a small enrollment drawn almost entirely from the local area. Nearly all students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the student body is entirely Hispanic. State testing data is available for grades three through five.

In math, Hinojosa's proficiency rates across the tested grades cluster in the low range. Fourth and fifth graders show proficiency at similar levels, while third grade performs slightly higher. The school's proficiency index, which averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, sits below the midpoint relative to other districts in Starr County. Reading proficiency (English language arts) is notably lower at the third and fourth grade levels, though fifth graders show a meaningful jump. Science proficiency in fifth grade sits between math and reading in level.

The school's broader academic profile shows that across all subjects, a slim majority of students reach at least the "approaches" level, the lowest proficiency band. The "meets" level, which represents solid performance, is reached by roughly one-third of students overall. Advanced achievement, marked by the "masters" level, occurs in only a modest fraction of students across all subjects.

Data on special education enrollment and English learner status was not available. The school serves an early elementary population, so students in pre-K through second grade are not assessed by state testing and thus do not appear in these results. Parents may want to ask the school directly about support services and how instruction is differentiated across this broad age range.

The district recently adopted a high-quality math curriculum district-wide beginning in 2021, a multi-year improvement effort that changed instruction in middle schools and high school algebra. Whether and how this curriculum work has extended to the elementary level would be worth asking about directly. The district also underwent a name change to reflect the inclusion of the La Grulla community it serves.

Housing in the Rio Grande City zip code is affordable relative to state and national benchmarks. The area presents challenges common to many border communities in South Texas, including economic pressure reflected in nearly universal free-lunch eligibility. For families considering this school, the priority question is whether the school's current academic performance and trajectory align with their expectations for their child's preparation in the core subjects, and what supplemental support or acceleration might be available depending on where the child enters.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 337%

School 37% · District 48% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 53% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

Grade 532%

School 32% · District 50% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 26 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 322%

School 22% · district not reported

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 39 pts below county median

Grade 423%

School 23% · District 50% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 83% · ▼ 38 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Science

Grade 541%

School 41% · District 26% · ▲ 15 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 2 pts above county median

This schoolRIO GRANDE CITY GRULLA 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.