PA1 Equity and Diversity

The Albuquerque Public Schools superintendent shall focus on three major areas: student achievement, student discipline, and access to high-quality, programs, curriculum, and staffing.

Definitions

For the purposes of this procedural directive, “Culturally Responsive Practices” means incorporating the diverse cultural backgrounds of students in the classroom, teaching cultural competence, and uncovering biases in curriculum, assessment, and teaching (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1995; Nieto, 2013)

For the purposes of this procedural directive, “Educational Equity” means a measure of fairness, achievement and opportunity in education

For the purposes of this procedural directive, “Institutional Barriers” means a policy or practice that unintentionally or intentionally keeps one group of students from accessing opportunities for success

For the purposes of this procedural directive, “Institutional Racism” means a form of racism embedded as normal practice within society, an organization, system of government, or structure, etc., that results in inequitable opportunities and disadvantages people, based on race

For the purposes of this procedural directive, “Non-Discrimination” means to ensure that no one is denied rights based on disability, race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or ancestry, religion, age, veteran status, HIV status, pregnancy and/or any other protected status as defined by law, in all its programs and activities. Nondiscrimination shall include freedom from harassment and retaliation based on disability, race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or ancestry, religion, age, veteran status, HIV status, pregnancy and/or any other protected status as defined by law. Non-discrimination is critical to ensuring educational equity

For the purposes of this procedural directive, “Opportunity Gaps” means the lack of an opportunity to learn, lack of access to necessary resources, curriculum opportunities, extra-curricular activities, and highly qualified educators. Opportunity gaps may exist for some students, but not necessarily all students

VISION

The primary responsibility of Albuquerque Public Schools is to ensure every student is known by name, strength and need, and graduates prepared for the future they choose. Eliminating racism, racial inequities, and historical and institutional bias should increase achievement and graduation rates for all students, while narrowing the achievement and opportunity gaps between the highest and lowest performing students. The Albuquerque Public Schools’ strategic plan is the district’s primary equity plan, and will enable us to meet our goals in every classroom and in every school.

Through these procedures and the Albuquerque Public Schools’ Board of Education Policy: AF Equity and Diversity, the superintendent will lead all departments and school sites in Albuquerque Public Schools to share a commitment to the values established in that policy and a commitment to act on these values for equity in our society.

BELIEFS

To ensure achievement of all Albuquerque Public Schools’ students, the following beliefs drive our work:

Equitable access to schools, classrooms, resources, and services provided by the district requires acknowledgment of potentially unequal learning needs
It is the district’s responsibility to evaluate and correct policies and practices that have resulted in unequal, negative educational impacts
The composition of administrators, teachers and all other personnel that represents the diversity in the district is paramount to designing and implementing successful policy and practice solutions to achieve equity and diversity of voices, backgrounds, and needs
An education of superior quality for all students includes greater appreciation of and respect for racial and cultural differences and the honest and accurate depiction of historical inequities
All students, staff, parents, and community members have a vested interest in and should work together to correct systemic inequities
Our work can, and will, close the opportunity and achievement gaps for all students

COMMITMENT

To achieve racial and educational equity, the superintendent will lead APS departments and school site leaders in the following twelve commitments:

Professional development specifically designed to strengthen employee’s knowledge and skills for eliminating opportunity and achievement gaps between groups of students and that supports educational equity, self-awareness, understanding of institutional racism and historical inequities in education and cultural competencies.
Development of culturally responsive and historically accurate pedagogy to connect content with the unique intersecting identities of each individual student.
Development of consistent hiring practices and a process to support pathways and actively recruit, employ, support and retain a highly qualified workforce that includes racial, gender, and linguistic diversity, as well as culturally competent administrative, instructional and support personnel with an equity mindset.
Develop capacity to analyze and eliminate policies and practices that result in the predictability of systemic inequities: such as the use of assessments which can result in reflecting lower academic achievement for students of color and English learners; over-identification and representation of students of color in special education; under-identification and representation of students of color and English Learners in advanced academic courses and opportunities; and disproportionality in suspension.
Continuous and comprehensive review of disaggregated district, school, and student-level data to identify areas of disproportionality and identify strategies and action items to eliminate achievement gaps.
Exploration of ways to foster and improve parent/family involvement thus ensuring that community members are active partners in the education of all students and striving to engage with the school community through use of their home languages.
Resource allocation in an intentional and fiscally responsible manner by providing every student with equitable access to a high quality curriculum, culturally competent staff, supports, facilities and other educational resources.
Facilitate equitable access to co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, social services, tutoring and enrichment opportunities.
Improved school climate by leveraging diversity in its myriad forms to create schools where students, families, community members and employees feel welcome, valued, supported, and where students and staff can perform to their personal best.
Racial literacy, linguistic and social identity development using curriculum informed by an anti-bias, historically accurate, linguistically responsive and a social justice education framework.
Active engagement with partners to align and leverage community resources in a collaborative manner.
Equity in facilities and operations to support health, safe, and educationally adequate environment for all students.

Equity Performance Outcome Measures

The Equity Compass Snapshot embeds equity into institutional norms, practices and policies, and requires that department heads and school site leaders use a research process with data-driven information and ongoing public transparency. The purpose of an Equity Compass Snapshot is to provide accountability to our community about the progress toward equity in our community and schools. The Equity Compass Snapshot allows community and school stakeholders and district leaders to work from the same set of data progress indicators to inform decisions and envision long-term achievement of equity goals.

Annual Reporting

The superintendent will report annually to the Board of Education about progress toward meeting equity goals.

Administrative Position:

Superintendent
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Operations Officer
Chief of Human Resources & Legal Support Services
Associate Superintendent of Equity, Innovation, Instruction and Support
Chief Information and Strategy Officer
Associate Superintendents for Learning Zones 1, 2, 3 and 4
Associate Superintendent of Special Education

Department Director:

Executive Director of Budget and Finance
Senior Director of Equity & Engagement
Director of Strategic Analysis and Program Research
Support Principals

References:

Legal Ref:

Hispanic Education Act Section 22-23B-2 NMSA 1978
Indian Education Act Section 22-23A-10NMSA 1778
Section 22-2C-5 NMSA 1978
Section 22-8-18 NMSA 1978
Yazzie/Martinez v. State of New Mexico (2018)

Board Policy Cross Ref:

Procedural Directive Cross Ref:

NSBA/NEPN Classification: AC, ACB, JB

Introduced: October 7, 2020
Reviewed: October 7, 2020
Adopted: October 14, 2020

This page was last updated on: October 14, 2020.