Best Public Schools in Magdalena, NM

The city of Magdalena, New Mexico is home to 3 schools that serve students from elementary through high school, all part of the Magdalena Municipal Schools district. While the schools face challenges of high poverty levels, with all three having 98-100% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, they also demonstrate strengths such as relatively low student-teacher ratios and improving academic performance.

Magdalena Middle School stands out as a bright spot, improving its statewide ranking from 161 out of 200 in 2018-2019 to 70 out of 232 in 2021-2022, earning a 4-star rating. With a student-teacher ratio of 8.5, the middle school may be able to provide more individualized attention to its diverse student population, which is 48.65% Hispanic and 25.68% Native American. Similarly, Magdalena High School has shown steady improvement in its statewide ranking, going from 160 out of 182 in 2017-2018 to 111 out of 181 in 2018-2019, and boasts an even lower student-teacher ratio of 8.

In contrast, Magdalena Elementary has a higher student-teacher ratio of 11, but still serves a diverse student body that is 51.22% Hispanic and 29.27% Native American. The high poverty levels across all three schools suggest that the Magdalena Municipal Schools district faces significant challenges in supporting its students, but the improvements seen at the middle and high school levels indicate that the district is taking steps to address these issues and provide a quality education to the community.