For the first time in a decade, Albuquerque Public Schools has a set of five-year academic goals to work toward and measure the district’s effectiveness.
The three goals approved unanimously Wednesday by the APS Board of Education focus on early literacy proficiency, mathematics proficiency, and post-secondary readiness, with a special emphasis on the district’s most challenged students.
The goals emerged from work the board and district staff did with representatives from the Council of the Great City Schools as the board transitions to a new way of operating called Student Outcomes Focused Governance (SOFG).
Under SOFG, the school board sets goals for student outcomes, based on the community’s vision for the district, and guardrails, based on the community’s values for how the vision will be achieved.
The goals approved Thursday will be measured from a baseline established by scores on standardized state test administered later this year. They read as follows:
Goal 1: The percentage of third-grade students, from student groups named in the Yazzie-Martinez joint settlement plus African American students who demonstrate grade level proficiency or above on the state English Language Arts (ELA) summative assessment, will increase from X in May 2023 to Y in May 2028. (Metric to be determined upon receipt of 2023 results from the state, but shall not be less than a total of 10 point increase over five years.)
Goal 2: The percentage of eighth-grade students from groups named in the Yazzie-Martinez joint settlement plus African American students who demonstrate grade level proficiency or above on the state mathematics summative assessment will increase from X in May 2023 to Y in May 2028. (Metric to be determined upon receipt of 2023 results from the state, but shall not be less than a total of 10 point increase over five years.
Goal 3: The percentage of high school graduates who earn credit in two or more Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Dual Credit courses, or earn an industry certification or Bilingual Seal, will increase from X in September 2023 to Y in September 2028.
The board will soon set interim benchmarks the district should aim for to be on track to meet the five-year goals.
Until the new goals were approved this week, APS had operated for many years without any specific academic targets set by the board for the district’s students. The district has struggled historically with chronically low student achievement, low graduation rates and high dropout rates.
