The 15-Point Gap: Native American Students Graduate at 61% in New Mexico

Thu, 07 May 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Correction (May 7, 2026): An earlier version of this article reported that 15 districts disclosed Native American graduation rates in 2017 and that none exceeded 80%. The correct counts are 23 districts reporting, with Dulce (83.9%), Rio Rancho (81.4%), and Magdalena (81.1%) above 80%.

For nearly a decade, the gap between Native American and white graduation rates in New Mexico has refused to close.

In 2017, 61.0% of Native American students earned a diploma within four years. White students graduated at 76.4%. The 15.4 percentage-point gap between them is almost exactly where it started in 2009, when the state first adopted the Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate.

The numbers moved in the middle of the decade. By 2015, the white-Native American gap had narrowed to 10.7 points, driven partly by Native American rates climbing from 57.8% to 62.9% in six years. Then the progress reversed. Between 2015 and 2017, Native American graduation rates fell back to 61.0% while white rates recovered to 76.4%, stretching the gap back to 15.4 points.

A gap the courts noticed

In 2018, Judge Sarah Singleton ruled in the consolidated Yazzie/Martinez case that New Mexico had systematically failed its Native American, low-income, and English Language Learner students. The ruling, which found the state's education system constitutionally inadequate, cited exactly the kind of persistent gaps these graduation numbers document.

The graduation data predates the ruling by one year. But the pattern the court described -- decades of underfunding and neglect of at-risk populations -- shows up clearly in the trend line. Native American students improved by just 3.2 percentage points over eight years, compared to 7.5 points for Hispanic students and 1.9 points for white students over the same period.

Where the gaps are widest

The statewide average masks district-level variation that ranges from devastating to somewhat less devastating.

Espanola Public Schools reported a 21.5% Native American graduation rate in 2017, the lowest in the state. Just one in five Native American students in the district earned a diploma on time. The gap between Espanola's overall rate (65.5%) and its Native American rate was 44 percentage points -- the widest intra-district gap of any district reporting the data.

Bernalillo Public Schools, serving communities near the Sandia and Santa Ana Pueblos, graduated Native American students at 45.6%. Zuni Public Schools, serving the Zuni Pueblo, came in at 54.0%. Albuquerque Public Schools, which educates more Native American students than any other district in the state, posted a 54.6% rate.

Of the 23 districts reporting Native American graduation rates in 2017, the highest were Dulce at 83.9%, Rio Rancho at 81.4%, and Magdalena at 81.1%. Each shows that Native American students can graduate at or above the statewide average when district conditions support it. But the median district rate was 66.5%, and only six districts cleared 75%.

The fifth-year window

One piece of the data suggests how close some of these students come. New Mexico reports 5-year graduation rates for earlier cohorts, and Native American students gain 5.8 percentage points with an extra year -- from 63.0% to 68.8% for the 2016 cohort.

That gain is the second-largest of any subgroup, behind Black students (+7.0 points). It suggests that a substantial number of Native American students are within reach of graduation but need more time, more support, or both.

The 5-year rate still leaves Native American students below where white students start with just four years (76.0% in 2016). But it narrows the functional gap and raises a question about whether the state's accountability system, which weights the 4-year rate most heavily, penalizes districts that serve students needing more flexible pathways.

The subgroup ranking

In 2017, Native American students ranked at the very bottom of the state's subgroup graduation rates at 61.0%, narrowly below students with disabilities at 61.5%. Economically disadvantaged students graduated at 66.4%, male students at 67.2%, and Black students at 67.9%. At the top, Asian students graduated at 85.4%.

The state average of 71.1% is itself nearly 16 points below the national average of roughly 87%. Native American students in New Mexico graduate at rates 26 points below where the average American student does.

Beyond the numbers

The graduation data ends with the Class of 2017. Recent reporting from the New Mexico Public Education Department shows the statewide rate reached 80.6% for the Class of 2025, suggesting significant improvement in the years beyond this data window.

What the data also cannot show is how many of these students left school for reasons the graduation rate doesn't capture: students who transferred to tribal schools not reflected in state data, students who earned GEDs or alternative credentials, or students who returned to school after the four-year window closed. The cohort count columns in the state data are entirely blank, making it impossible to calculate how many students the 61% rate represents in absolute terms.

What the data does show, unambiguously, is that the gap between Native American students and their peers remained wider in 2017 than it was when the state started measuring it. Eight years of modest statewide improvement produced only 3.2 percentage points of progress for Native American students, and even that was erased in the gap calculation by faster improvement among white students.

The Yazzie/Martinez ruling ordered the state to provide a sufficient education to all students. The graduation rate is one measure of whether that mandate is being met. Through 2017, it was not.

Data source

Data from the New Mexico Public Education Department. Graduation rates are 4-year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rates (ACGR) for cohorts 2009-2017. Five-year rates available for cohorts 2012-2016. National average from NCES.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.

library(nmschooldata)
library(dplyr)

grad_data <- bind_rows(lapply(2009:2017, function(y) fetch_graduation(y, use_cache = TRUE)))
grad_data$grad_rate <- grad_data$grad_rate * 100

# Key claims verification
state_race <- grad_data |>
  filter(is_state == TRUE, subgroup %in% c("all", "white", "native_american")) |>
  select(end_year, subgroup, grad_rate) |>
  tidyr::pivot_wider(names_from = subgroup, values_from = grad_rate) |>
  mutate(gap = round(white - native_american, 1))

cat("2017 Native American rate:", state_race$native_american[state_race$end_year == 2017], "\n")
cat("2017 White rate:", state_race$white[state_race$end_year == 2017], "\n")
cat("2017 Gap:", state_race$gap[state_race$end_year == 2017], "pp\n")
cat("2009 Gap:", state_race$gap[state_race$end_year == 2009], "pp\n")
cat("2015 Gap:", state_race$gap[state_race$end_year == 2015], "pp\n")
cat("NA improvement 2009-2017:", round(state_race$native_american[state_race$end_year == 2017] - state_race$native_american[state_race$end_year == 2009], 1), "pp\n")

# Espanola
esp <- grad_data |>
  filter(is_district == TRUE, grepl("Espanola", district_name), end_year == 2017, subgroup == "native_american") |>
  pull(grad_rate)
cat("Espanola NA rate 2017:", esp, "\n")

# 5yr boost
g5 <- fetch_graduation(2016, rate_type = "5yr", use_cache = TRUE)
g5$grad_rate <- g5$grad_rate * 100
g4 <- fetch_graduation(2016, rate_type = "4yr", use_cache = TRUE)
g4$grad_rate <- g4$grad_rate * 100
na5 <- g5 |> filter(is_state == TRUE, subgroup == "native_american") |> pull(grad_rate)
na4 <- g4 |> filter(is_state == TRUE, subgroup == "native_american") |> pull(grad_rate)
cat("NA 4yr (2016):", na4, " 5yr:", na5, " gain:", round(na5 - na4, 1), "pp\n")