Enrollment
332
Elementary
DISTRICT 423 · STATE 519
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HARLINGEN CISD·NCES 482253002292
Zavala Elementary School
1111 N B ST, HARLINGEN, TX 78550 · (956) 427-3200 · Cameron County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL332 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 67% of Texas public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- AThree-year trend Change in reading and math proficiency over the last three test years.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Texas public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
15.8:1
21 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.6:1 · STATE 15.1:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
100%
331 students
DISTRICT 80% · STATE 65%
Community
0
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 | 84 | 25% |
| Kindergarten | 41 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 43 | 13% |
| Grade 2 | 38 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 39 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 48 | 14% |
| Grade 5 | 39 | 12% |
This year's kindergarten class (41) is 5% larger than its 5th grade class (39).
Student demographics
10%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 10% · 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
60.0%
TX avg 54.5% . +36.0pp since 2020
Mathematics
51.0%
TX avg 45.3% . +13.0pp since 2020
What this means: On the STAAR, Texas's statewide test, about 60 of every 100 students at this school read at grade level and about 51 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Texas schools, those numbers are about 55 and 45. Reading scores are up about 36 points since 2020, while math scores are up about 13 points.
Performance levels, 2025-26
| Subject | Masters Grade Level | Meets Grade Level | Approaches Grade Level | Did Not Meet Grade Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading | 23.0% | 37.0% | 19.0% | 21.0% |
| Mathematics | 22.0% | 29.0% | 24.0% | 25.0% |
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 | 60.0% | 51.0% |
| 2024-25 | 55.0% | 32.0% |
| 2023-24 | 52.0% | 39.0% |
| 2022-23 | 39.0% | 17.0% |
| 2021-22 | 46.0% | 38.0% |
| 2020-21 | 24.0% | 38.0% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
40.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
31.1%
based on TX schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+9.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 40% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 31% 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 →
Schools most like Zavala Elementary School
Zavala Elementary School's state test result (40.4% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zavala Elementary School this school | 332 | 99.7% | 40.4% |
| Tijerina Elementary School HOUSTON | 333 | 99.1% | 45.4% |
| Carvajal Elementary School SAN ANTONIO | 328 | 97.6% | 9.8% |
| Gallegos Elementary School HOUSTON | 351 | 99.7% | 45.1% |
| Lida Hooe Elementary School DALLAS | 310 | 97.7% | 28.3% |
| Early Childhood EDINBURG | 352 | 100.0% | N/A |
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 Zavala Elementary School ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Texas | In Cameron County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 40.4% | #2,545 of 4,401 | #65 of 93 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.0% | #1,673 of 4,466 ▲ 1,888 | #54 of 93 ▲ 32 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 60.0% | #1,440 of 4,466 ▲ 473 | #30 of 93 ▲ 13 |
| 3-year test score change ranked biggest gain first | +27.5pp | #209 of 3,998 | #1 of 93 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 332 | #3,999 of 4,938 | #78 of 95 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.8:1 | #3,124 of 4,622 | #49 of 93 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 9.8% | #4,114 of 4,628 | #17 of 93 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 99.7% | #39 of 4,789 | #4 of 94 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -18.2% | #1,325 of 2,838 | #34 of 64 |
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
332
+18 (+6%) vs 2020
-22% since 1990-91, when it was 427
Student : Teacher
15.8:1
was 13.1:1
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 | 332 | 21 | 15.8:1 | 100% (331) |
| 2023-24 | 308 | 22.6 | 13.6:1 | 90% (278) |
| 2022-23 | 295 | 22 | 13.4:1 | 98% (288) |
| 2020-21 | 314 | 24 | 13.1:1 | 97% (306) |
| 2017-18 | 406 | 26.4 | 15.4:1 | 97% (393) |
| 2015-16 | 381 | 25 | 15.2:1 | 96% (366) |
| 2010-11 | 374 | 23 | 16.3:1 | 95% (355) |
| 2000-01 | 404 | 27 | 15.0:1 | 96% (388) |
| 1990-91 | 427 | 35 | 12.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Zavala Elementary School.
Since 2017-18: students down 18% (406 to 332); teachers down 20% (26.4 to 21).
About Zavala Elementary School
Zavala Elementary School is a public small elementary school in HARLINGEN, Texas. It serves 332 students in pre-K through 5. The average among elementary schools in Texas is roughly 519 students; this school is 36% smaller than that.
In HARLINGEN CISD, 31 schools enroll a combined 17,506 students.
The large majority of students at Zavala Elementary School, 95%, are Hispanic. Next come 5% White. The chance that two students picked at random at Zavala Elementary School belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 10%.
The school employs the equivalent of 21 full-time teachers, for a ratio of 15.8:1. Elementary schools in Texas have a similar average ratio of 15.1:1. The free or reduced-price lunch share, often used to gauge student poverty, is 100%. That is higher than the 84% average for public schools in Cameron County.
Zavala Elementary School is graded B+ by allk12, scoring above 67% of Texas public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, Zavala Elementary School is 9.2 points above the average proficiency rate on state tests predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 40.4% actual, 31.1% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in Texas.
According to the American Community Survey, in Cameron County, median household income is about $52,601, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 22% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 21%. Zavala Elementary School is one of 187 public schools in Cameron County, which together enroll about 97,392 students.
The nearest public school is Edna Tamayo House, at about 0.5 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Zavala Elementary School places 4th of 8 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
By NCES locale, the school is City: Small, or inside a principal city with a population under 100,000.
Federal counts put enrollment at 314 in 2020-21 and 332 in 2024-25, a 6% increase. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 13.1:1 to 15.8:1.
If you have questions about science fairs, picture day, and bus routes at Zavala Elementary School, you can post them here. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Cameron County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
426,120
Census ACS
Median income
$52,601
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
22%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
21%
Below federal line
Schools in county
187
97,392 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in HARLINGEN CISD
- Harlingen High SchoolHigh · 2,433 students
- Harlingen H S - SouthHigh · 2,019 students
- Dr Abraham P Cano Freshman AcademyCombined · 1,035 students
- Moises Vela Middle SchoolMiddle · 761 students
- Treasure Hills Elementary SchoolElementary · 758 students
- Gutierrez Middle SchoolMiddle · 747 students
Other schools in HARLINGEN
- Harlingen High SchoolHigh · 2,433 students
- Harlingen H S - SouthHigh · 2,019 students
- Dr Abraham P Cano Freshman AcademyCombined · 1,035 students
- Moises Vela Middle SchoolMiddle · 761 students
- Treasure Hills Elementary SchoolElementary · 758 students
- Gutierrez Middle SchoolMiddle · 747 students
Other Zavala Elementary schools
6 other US public schools in 1 state are named Zavala Elementary. Zavala Elementary School is the 4th largest of the 7.
- Zavala Elementary SchoolPECOS, TX · 861 students
- Zavala Elementary SchoolEDINBURG, TX · 565 students
- Zavala Elementary SchoolCORPUS CHRISTI, TX · 433 students
- Zavala Elementary SchoolCRYSTAL CITY, TX · 300 students
- Zavala Elementary SchoolEL PASO, TX · 253 students
Nearby schools
- Edna Tamayo House0.5 mi · 8
- Austin Elementary School0.6 mi · 295
- Crockett Elementary School0.9 mi · 234
- Harlingen High School0.9 mi · 2,433
- Dr Abraham P Cano Freshman Academy1.0 mi · 1,035
- Travis Elementary School1.1 mi · 294
Frequently asked questions
About Zavala Elementary SchoolHow large is Zavala Elementary School?
Zavala Elementary School enrolls approximately 332 students in grades PK-05.
Is Zavala Elementary School an elementary, middle, or high school?
Zavala Elementary School is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Zavala Elementary School have?
Zavala Elementary School employs 21 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 15.8:1.
How diverse is Zavala Elementary School?
Zavala Elementary School reports a student body of 5% White, 95% Hispanic, 0% Asian, 0% Two or more.
Who oversees Zavala Elementary School?
Zavala Elementary School is overseen by HARLINGEN CISD in Cameron County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.