1
Enrollment
470
Elementary
DISTRICT 526 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD·NCES 483486012660
Berta S Palacios Elementary School
801 E THOMAS DR, PHARR, TX 78577 · (956) 354-2000 · Hidalgo County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL470 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.3:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
100%
468 students
DISTRICT 94% · STATE 65%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 106 | 23% |
| Kindergarten | 54 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 59 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 59 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 57 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 73 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 62 | 13% |
This year's kindergarten class (54) is 13% smaller than its 5th grade class (62).
Student demographics
2%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 2% · STATE 63% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
STAAR 2025-26 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
58.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +30.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
60.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +49.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 58 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 60 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 30 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 49 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 32.0% | 26.0% | 25.0% | 17.0% |
| Mathematics | 34.0% | 26.0% | 22.0% | 18.0% |
Share of tested students at each STAAR level. Each student counts in one level, so a row adds to about 100%.
STAAR results by year
| School year | Reading | Mathematics |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 58.0% | 60.0% |
| 2024-25 | 65.0% | 63.0% |
| 2023-24 | 55.0% | 52.0% |
| 2022-23 | 40.0% | 46.0% |
| 2021-22 | 37.0% | 30.0% |
| 2020-21 | 28.0% | 11.0% |
% Meets Grade Level or Above, all students and all tested grades.
Source: STAAR. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of TX schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
56.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.2%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+25.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 57% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 31% typical for Texas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 25 points, placing it in Texas's top 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Berta S Palacios Elementary School
Berta S Palacios Elementary School's state test result (56.6% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berta S Palacios Elementary School this school | 470 | 99.6% | 56.6% |
| Santa Maria Elementary School LAREDO | 465 | 99.4% | 48.1% |
| John & Olive Hinojosa Elementary School RIO GRANDE CITY | 441 | 99.1% | 30.2% |
| Jorge R Gutierrez Early Childhood Center EDCOUCH | 454 | 97.8% | N/A |
| Putegnat Elementary School BROWNSVILLE | 444 | 100.0% | 39.1% |
| Bruni Elementary School LAREDO | 441 | 98.4% | 47.4% |
Matched among Texas elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Berta S Palacios Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Hidalgo County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 56.6% | #955 of 4,401 | #23 of 181 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 60.0% | #962 of 4,466 ▼ 240 | #28 of 183 ▼ 16 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 58.0% | #1,661 of 4,466 ▼ 603 | #60 of 183 ▼ 29 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +16.0pp | #794 of 3,998 | #34 of 180 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 470 | #2,832 of 4,938 | #114 of 192 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.2:1 | #2,612 of 4,622 | #66 of 185 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 1.7% | #4,484 of 4,628 | #115 of 185 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 99.6% | #46 of 4,789 | #5 of 190 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -20.9% | #1,103 of 2,838 | #51 of 128 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
470
-108 (-19%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
15.2:1
was 15.6:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 470 | 31 | 15.2:1 | 100% (468) |
| 2023-24 | 495 | 32.7 | 15.2:1 | 99% (491) |
| 2022-23 | 551 | 31.5 | 17.5:1 | 98% (541) |
| 2020-21 | 578 | 37 | 15.6:1 | 99% (572) |
| 2017-18 | 594 | 35.1 | 16.9:1 | 96% (572) |
| 2015-16 | 533 | 32 | 16.7:1 | 98% (524) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Berta S Palacios Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 21% (594 to 470); teachers down 12% (35.1 to 31).
About Berta S Palacios Elementary School
A mid-sized elementary school in PHARR, Texas, Berta S Palacios Elementary School is part of PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD. It offers pre-K through 5 and has 470 students enrolled.
PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD has 44 schools; together they serve 29,749 students.
At Berta S Palacios Elementary School, 99% of students are Hispanic. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 2%.
The school had 31 full-time-equivalent teachers in 2024-25. Its student-to-teacher ratio is 15.2:1. The ratio is within a point of the 15.1:1 average for elementary schools in Texas. The eligibility rate for free or reduced-price meals is 100%. That is higher than the 85% average for public schools in Hidalgo County.
BeatsExpectations places Berta S Palacios Elementary School in the top 10% of Texas schools. The measure fits a line through proficiency and free or reduced-price lunch share for each state, and this school sits 25.5 points above it (56.6% actual, 31.2% predicted).
Looking at the county, Hidalgo County, the median household earns about $54,338 a year, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 23% of people live in poverty. Hidalgo County has 364 public schools with about 212,859 students, including Berta S Palacios Elementary School.
Measured in a straight line, Cesar Chavez Elementary School is about 0.3 miles from Berta S Palacios Elementary School. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. On proficiency, Berta S Palacios Elementary School is ahead of the 54.8% nearby average, ranking 3rd of 9.
The school's locale code, City: Small, means it is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
In 2024-25, the school enrolled 470, down from 578 in 2020-21.
This page collects posts and questions about Berta S Palacios Elementary School, such as open houses, carpools, and field trips. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Hidalgo County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
891,977
Census ACS
Median income
$54,338
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
23%
Below federal line
Schools in county
364
212,859 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD
- Psja Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,300 students
- Psja North Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,166 students
- Psja Memorial Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,997 students
- Psja Southwest Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,588 students
- Lyndon B Johnson Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,006 students
- Austin Middle SchoolMiddle · 833 students
Other schools in PHARR
- Psja North Early College High SchoolHigh · 2,166 students
- Vanguard RembrandtCombined · 1,978 students
- Psja Southwest Early College High SchoolHigh · 1,588 students
- Vanguard Van GoghCombined · 1,048 students
- Lyndon B Johnson Middle SchoolMiddle · 1,006 students
- IDEA College Preparatory PharrHigh · 848 students
Nearby schools
- Cesar Chavez Elementary School0.3 mi · 403
- Jaime Escalante Middle School0.5 mi · 554
- Jc Kelly Elementary School1.1 mi · 260
- IDEA Academy Pharr1.2 mi · 717
- IDEA College Preparatory Pharr1.2 mi · 848
- Hidalgo Park Elementary School1.4 mi · 239
Frequently asked questions
About Berta S Palacios Elementary SchoolHow large is Berta S Palacios Elementary School?
Berta S Palacios Elementary School enrolls approximately 470 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Berta S Palacios Elementary School serve?
Berta S Palacios Elementary School serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Berta S Palacios Elementary School?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Berta S Palacios Elementary School is approximately 15.2:1 (31 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Berta S Palacios Elementary School?
Berta S Palacios Elementary School reports a student body of 1% White, 99% Hispanic, 0% Black.
What district is Berta S Palacios Elementary School in?
Berta S Palacios Elementary School is part of PHARR-SAN JUAN-ALAMO ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.