Albuquerque Public Schools wants to talk progress.
The district’s board of education will hold a pair of mid-year information sessions to talk about its goals and guardrails.
The goals, outlined in APS’ strategic plan, are early literacy, math proficiency, post-secondary readiness and skills, habits and mindset for life success.
Guardrails, in APS parlance, are the values of the community, which shape efforts toward reaching the goals.
The first event, hosted by the community schools councils at Lavaland Elementary School, John Adams Middle School and West Mesa High School, is at 5:30 p.m., March 25 at Lavaland, 501 57th Street NW.
School board members also will attend and share information on goals and guardrails. A light dinner will be served. Those interested in attending should RSVP to boarded@aps.edu by March 19.
Another board update will take place on March 28, at Hodgin Elementary, 3801 Morningside Drive NE. The 6 p.m. session follows a training exercise on social and emotional learning.
Hodgin is hosting the event alongside Del Norte High School and McKinley Middle School. A light dinner will be served. Anyone interested in attending should RSVP to boarded@aps.edu by March 21.
Gosh, they must be doing something right. Sarcasm.
On education, New Mexico ranks 50th in the nation. Interestingly, Mississippi, who ranks 49th in overall child well-being, ranks 30th for education. Louisiana, who ranked 48th in overall child well-being, ranks 42nd in education.
The four indicators measured in the Education domain are:
Young Children Not in School
Both nationally and in New Mexico, the group of students aged three and four who were not in school between 2018 and 2022 has increased. Nationally, 54 percent of students in this age group are not in school, two percent worse than 2013-17. In New Mexico, 59 percent of students in this age group were not in school, a one percent increase from 2013-17.
Fourth Graders Not Proficient In Reading
In New Mexico, the percentage of fourth grade students who cannot at grade level has increased from 76 percent in 2019, to 79 percent in 2022. Nationally, 68 percent of fourth graders cannot read at grade level, two percent worse than 2019.
Eighth Graders Not Proficient In Math
Nationally, students in eighth grade are doing worse in math than they did in 2019. Across the country, eighth graders who cannot do math at grade level is 74 percent, a seven percent increase from 2019. In New Mexico the story is much worse. In 2019, 79 percent of New Mexico eighth graders could do math at grade level; in 2022, 87 percent of eighth graders could not do math at grade level. This is an eight percent increase.
High School Students Not Graduating on Time
Nationally, 14 percent of students are not graduating on time, the same as the previous data point (2018-2019). This is the one indicator in which New Mexico saw improvement. In 2020-2021, 23 percent of students were not graduating, a two percent improvement from 2018-2019 when 25 percent of students did not graduate on time.