Albuquerque Public Schools
Rules of the Road
Wraparound Support Systems
APS will operate with an equitable distribution of school and/or community-based wraparound and support systems.
Equity
District resources will be allocated equitably.
High-Quality Curriculum and Instruction
Our curriculum and instruction will be district and standards-aligned, challenging, culturally and linguistically responsive, and differentiated to meet the academic needs of all students.
Voice and Engagement
make decisions that affect school and district operations.
Staff Support
APS will seek input from staff and provide them with adequate resources before launching new initiatives in schools. Those resources will include high-quality professional development, essential materials, and staffing needed to get the job done.
We Must Do Better
Success stories abound at APS, but too many of our students continue to struggle.
We have amazing success stories at APS, just look at our Class of 2023.
Evan Claar, one of Eldorado High School’s National Indigenous Scholars, got into Stanford University. Eri McClain-Yu, a fencer and an Early College Academy graduate, is at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Abocha Ebakyelo, a refugee who fled war in Africa and enrolled at Del Norte his freshman year not knowing English, graduated in May and is planning to attend Central New Mexico Community College.
And Jaqueline Ortiz, the daughter of migrants from Mexico, has already earned 91 college credits and is at New Mexico State University’s nursing program. The College and Career High School graduate’s ultimate goal is to become a mid-wife.
These resilient students overcame a global pandemic and, like countless others over the years, thrived at APS. But many others are struggling, and the pandemic has only widened the gap for those students in Albuquerque and across the country.
Statewide testing data shows that 32.6 percent of APS third-graders are proficient in English Language Arts, while 19.6 percent of our eighth graders are proficient in Math.
The gap between students who are economically disadvantaged and those who aren’t is huge. Same goes for students of color versus their white counterparts and for our English language learners.
These results are unacceptable. We can and must do more to ensure that all of our students have the tools they need. Our city’s future depends on it – as does the future of our state and nation.
We have a plan to improve outcomes for all of our students, a plan that sets goals that will be monitored and measured.
All of our students can succeed. We, as a district, must focus all of our resources to help them do that. We have to challenge them, step in when they’re having a hard time, and provide them with an environment that allows them to blossom. But that, by itself, won’t be enough.
We need parents to partner with us by prioritizing education and ensuring that their children are in school every day, that they’re doing homework, and tapping into available resources if they’re struggling.
We need the community to help us keep our schools safe so that students aren’t worrying about their safety when they should be focused on their algebra assignment or the essay they need to write.
We need to come together and do our part to provide every one of our students with the high-quality public education they deserve. We will succeed or fail in this endeavor as one.