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Alumni: what's one memory from CORINA PENA EL that still sticks with you?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
523
Elementary
DISTRICT 489 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LA JOYA ISD·NCES 482613010832
CORINA PENA EL
4800 LIBERTY BLVD, PENITAS, TX 78576 · (956) 323-2750 · Hidalgo County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY41-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL523 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
14.9:1
35 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.1:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
97%
505 students
DISTRICT 92% · 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
Student demographics
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
Test scores
STAAR 2023-24 . % Meets Grade Level or AboveReading
38.0%
TX avg 51.8% . +17.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
33.0%
TX avg 42.0% . +23.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 38 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 33 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 52 and 42. Reading scores are up about 17 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 23 points.
Source: STAAR. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
31.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.7%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 31% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 32% typical for Texas schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Texas's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
7-year change
SY 2017-18 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
523
-179 (-25%) vs 2017
Student : Teacher
14.9:1
was 16.3:1
% White
0%
was 1%
% Hispanic
100%
was 99%
% Black
0%
was 0%
% Asian
0%
was 0%
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
About CORINA PENA EL
CORINA PENA EL operates as a middle-of-the-pack K-5 school in PENITAS, Texas, part of LA JOYA ISD. Current enrollment sits at 523 students spanning grades pre-K through 5.
CORINA PENA EL is one of 36 schools operated by LA JOYA ISD, a district that serves 22,942 students overall.
For racial and ethnic makeup, CORINA PENA EL logs that the student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic (100%).
On the income-and-resources front, Staff filings list 35 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 14.9:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. Roughly 97% of students at CORINA PENA EL qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Hidalgo County runs at roughly 85%, so the school's eligibility rate is higher than the surrounding baseline.
With demographic context factored in, CORINA PENA EL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 31.7%, the actual is 31.4%, a residual of -0.3 points.
In the surrounding community, census data for Hidalgo County shows median household income runs about $54,338, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 23%. Across Hidalgo County's 364 public schools (combined enrollment of about 212,859 students), CORINA PENA EL is one campus in the mix.
The closest other public school is DR MARIA PALMIRA MENDIOLA EL, roughly 2.6 miles away. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around CORINA PENA EL. On composite proficiency, CORINA PENA EL comes 8th of 9 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 39.9%.
Geographically, the school is in a low-density area.
Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at CORINA PENA EL has shrank 25%, going from 702 students in 2018 to 523 in 2025. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 16.3:1 in 2018 to 14.9:1 today.
On allk12, posts here usually surface around pickup logistics, teacher feedback, and after-school programs. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 LA JOYA ISD
- LA JOYA H SHigh · 2,405 students
- LA JOYA PALMVIEW H SHigh · 2,073 students
- JUAREZ-LINCOLN H SHigh · 1,952 students
- ENRIQUE KIKI CAMARENA ELElementary · 715 students
- JOHN F KENNEDY ELElementary · 676 students
- ANN RICHARDS MIDDLEMiddle · 665 students
Other schools in PENITAS
- JOHN F KENNEDY ELElementary · 676 students
- DR JAVIER SAENZ MIDDLEMiddle · 601 students
- WILLIAM J CLINTON ELElementary · 463 students
Nearby schools
- DR MARIA PALMIRA MENDIOLA EL2.6 mi · 583
- JUAREZ-LINCOLN H S3.1 mi · 1,952
- DR JAVIER SAENZ MIDDLE3.2 mi · 601
- JOHN F KENNEDY EL3.2 mi · 676
- WILLIAM J CLINTON EL3.4 mi · 463
- ELODIA R CHAPA EL3.5 mi · 445
Frequently asked questions
About CORINA PENA ELHow large is CORINA PENA EL?
CORINA PENA EL enrolls approximately 523 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does CORINA PENA EL serve?
CORINA PENA EL serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at CORINA PENA EL?
Approximately 14.9:1 students per teacher at CORINA PENA EL.
How diverse is CORINA PENA EL?
CORINA PENA EL reports a student body of 0% White, 100% Hispanic.
Is CORINA PENA EL public or private?
CORINA PENA EL is a public K-12 school, overseen by LA JOYA ISD.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.