Sonora El, Sonora TX - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Sonora El

Sonora Elementary serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in a small ranching town in west Texas. The school sits at the geographic and cultural intersection of the Hill Country and the Chihuahuan Desert, in a community where oil, gas, and agriculture are the economic bedrock.

The school is modest in size and deeply rooted in its locality. Sonora is a slowly declining community of fewer than three thousand residents, functioning mainly as a service hub for surrounding ranches and energy workers. The student body reflects that rural working landscape: a substantial majority are Hispanic, and about half the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is the civic anchor for a town that revolves around the courthouse square, local diners, and Friday night football at Bronco Stadium.

State testing data for the current school year shows mixed academic results that warrant attention. English language arts proficiency rates vary noticeably by grade: sixth graders performed substantially stronger than grades three through five. Math proficiency across grades three through six clusters in the lower range, with no grade reaching above one-third proficient. Science proficiency in fifth grade falls well below math and reading. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand whether these patterns reflect recent shifts, whether interventions are in place for the lower-performing grades, or what support the school is providing for students who are not yet meeting grade-level standards.

The housing market around Sonora is affordable by national measures. The median home value is below the Texas state benchmark, and the price-to-income ratio is below the national average, making homeownership accessible to families earning moderate incomes. Most of the housing stock is older, built in the mid-to-late twentieth century, with a mix of single-family homes and mobile homes. The town has no public transit system, so families rely on personal vehicles for transportation.

Sonora ISD provides elementary, middle, and high school education within the community, keeping students local through their K-12 years. Higher education requires travel: Angelo State University and Howard College are about sixty-five miles away in San Angelo. The nearest competitor school options would be significantly more distant. For families committed to rural ranch-country living in a tight-knit, slower-paced community where school serves as a social and civic focal point, Sonora Elementary is the only option. For families seeking a school with consistently stronger testing outcomes across all grade bands and subjects, this school's current data suggests looking further.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 338%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 32%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 631%

School 31% · District 31%

▼ 3 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 340%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 45%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 670%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Science

Grade 518%

School 18% · District 18%

▼ 5 pts below state median

This schoolSONORA 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income48%15 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income36%Higher-income42%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income32%Higher-income55%23 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income81%31 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income25%Higher-income52%27 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income32%Higher-income32%0 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income23%Higher-income38%15 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income11%Higher-income42%31 pp gap