NCES CCD 2024-25 23 schools NM

Best-Resourced Schools in Rio Rancho, NM

Compiled from official source data by .

23 public K-12 schools in Rio Rancho from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
23
Schools
17,327
Students
45.7/100
Avg Resource Index
14.2:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Rio Rancho has more public-school enrollment than 91% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Rio Rancho sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

The school portfolio is elementary-weighted

12 of Rio Rancho's 23 listed schools are elementary campuses. That composition means citywide enrollment and staffing averages are influenced more by early-grade operating patterns than by the city's 4 middle and 3 high-school records. Families comparing later grades should rely on those individual rows rather than the all-school mean.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 51-point gap between Independence High School and Shining Stars Preschool shows the range hidden by Rio Rancho's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 9%
School count
Top 12%
Resource Index average
73rd percentile
Teacher staffing
65th percentile

Rio Rancho school enrollment varies 30× across entities

Rio Rancho school enrollment ranges from 86 students (lowest) to 2,596 students (highest), a spread of 2,510 students. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme heterogeneity inside a single city, with small specialty programs listed alongside large comprehensive campuses. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Rio Rancho student-teacher ratio is 14.2:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Rio Rancho is typically wider than the Rio Rancho-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Independence High School 67
2. Rio Rancho Elementary 57
3. Martin King Jr Elementary 54
4. Maggie Cordova Elementary School 53
5. Cielo Azul Elementary 52
6. Colinas Del Norte Elementary 52
7. Ernest Stapleton Elementary 51
8. Sandia Vista Elementary 49
9. Eagle Ridge Middle 48
10. The Ask Academy 48
11. Sandoval Academy of Bilingual Education 48
12. Rio Rancho Cyber Academy 48
13. Joe Harris Elementary 46
14. Vista Grande Elementary 45
15. Enchanted Hills Elementary 45
16. Rio Rancho Middle School 41
17. Lincoln Middle 41
18. Puesta Del Sol Elementary 41
19. Sparrk Online Academy 38
20. Cleveland High School 37
21. Rio Rancho High 37
22. Mountain View Middle 36
23. Shining Stars Preschool 16

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Rio Rancho

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 The Ask Academy 63.5/100
  2. 2 Vista Grande Elementary 61.0/100
  3. 3 Sandia Vista Elementary 60.8/100
  4. 4 Cielo Azul Elementary 60.1/100
  5. 5 Cleveland High School 57.7/100

What do families ask about schools in Rio Rancho?

Which Rio Rancho school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Independence High School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Rio Rancho schools in this federal-data comparison at 67/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Rio Rancho, NM? ▼

Rio Rancho has 23 public schools with a total enrollment of 17,327 students. 2 are charter schools. Average student-teacher ratio: 14.2:1.

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Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in New Mexico →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.