THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL

THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL is a medium-sized primary school in MCALLEN, Texas, one of the schools within MCALLEN ISD. The school works with 470 students in grades pre-K through 5.

Across the 31 schools in MCALLEN ISD (19,890 students total), THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL logs that 99% of students identify as Hispanic, making the school strongly Hispanic-majority.

On the income-and-resources front, The school employs 32 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 14.9:1. That tracks the state average closely. An estimated 97% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is north of Hidalgo County's rate of about 85%.

Adjusting for the school's free-and-reduced-lunch share, THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL ranks in the top 10% of Texas public schools. The BeatsExpectations model, a per-state regression of composite proficiency on FRL share, predicts schools with this student profile to land around 31.7%; THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL posts 63.3%, +31.6 points above that line.

Across the wider county, the surrounding county (Hidalgo County) records that the typical household earns roughly $54,338 per year, about 21% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 23%. Across Hidalgo County's 364 public schools (combined enrollment of about 212,859 students), THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL is one campus in the mix.

INSTR/GUID CENTER is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 50.5%.

Geographically, the school is in an urban area.

Five-year trend. THIGPEN-ZAVALA EL's enrollment has ticked down 20% since 2018, when it stood at 586 (now 470).

On this page, posts here usually surface around open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.