Academic Planning for Military Families

Common Core State Standards

The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts, Spanish Language Arts and Mathematics presents a significant opportunity to accelerate and drive education reform toward the goal of ensuring that all children graduate from high school ready for college, work, and competing in the global economy and society. The Common core standards for literacy in science, social studies and the technical subjects supplement the Science and Social Studies content standards in grades 6-12. The Common Core standards are implemented in all grades in New Mexico. The great thing about the CCSS is that most states, Washington, D.C. and the DoDEA school system have adopted these standards, so the educational expectations in the public schools will remain the same across most of the country. New Mexico has adopted an additional 15% of state-specific standards in ELA and SLA which focus on cultural responsiveness.

Next Generation Science Standards

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are K-12 science content standards. Standards set the expectations for what student should know and be able to do. The NGSS were developed by states to improve science education for all students. A goal for developing the NGSS was to create a set of research-based, up-to-date K-12 science standards. These standards give local educators the flexibility to design classroom learning experiences that stimulate students’ interest in science and prepares them for college, careers, and citizenship. As of 2023, 20 states, Washington, D.C. and the DoDEA school system have adopted these standards. Another 24 states have developed their own standards based on the National Research Council (NRC) recommendations, which is the framework for the NGSS. For more information, please visit https://www.nextgenscience.org/.

New Mexico State Standards

New Mexico has adopted educational standards to set clear goals for instruction in these subject areas: Social Studies, Visual & Performing Arts Education, Career and Technical Education, Computer Science, English Language Development, Spanish Language Development, Health Education, Physical Education and World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages.

As required in Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the new reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), schools in New Mexico administer standardized tests to assess student learning. To measure mastery in math and language arts, students in grades 3-8 will take New Mexico’s Measures of Student Success and Achievement (NM-MSSA) and students in grade 11 will take the SAT School Day. The New Mexico Assessment of Science Readiness (NM-ASR) is a standards-based test given to assess student learning in science in 5th, 8th, and 11th grades. These tests are administered in the spring.

New Mexico law requires that high school students show competency in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies to graduate. Passing the ESSA-required assessments is one way to do this, but there are other ways for students to show readiness for graduation.

Other state mandated testing requires interim assessments for Math and Language Arts in grades 3-8 administered three time each year for benchmarking student progress. Interim testing is conducted at the beginning-of-year (fall), middle-of-year (winter), and end-of-year (spring). Interim assessments in reading with the Istation’s Indicators of Progress (ISIP) are required for students in grades K-2nd. These reading assessments are given monthly and three of those monthly scores are used as state benchmarks, in the fall, winter and spring. ISIP is also available for math assessment but is not required per the state unless the school is participating in the Reading Achievement Math Schools program. All preschool and kindergarten students must be assessed using the Early Childhood Observation Tool.

Additionally, all 1st grade students must be screened for dyslexia by the 40th day of school or within two weeks of initial enrollment for students new to New Mexico.

For more information on the Assessments used in New Mexico, visit https://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/bureaus/assessment-3/quick-communications/.

APS Standardized Testing

APS uses Istation ISIP Reading and i-Ready assessments as their interim assessments for elementary and middle schools, given three times a school year. Station ISIP is now required for students in 3rd grade. i-Ready reading is required for students in 4th-8th grade. i-Ready Math is required for all students K-8th grade. APS uses NWEA Map Growth and CB Suite for interim assessments in high school (9th-12th grade).

APS participates in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), “the Nation’s Report Card” and tests a sampling of students in grade 4 (at selected schools), grade 8 (all middle schools) and grade 12 (selected schools).

State mandated graduation requirements set minimum levels for required courses for all schools in the state. Additional requirements vary by school district. State mandates require that students must take one unit of Advance Placement, Honors, dual credit, or distance learning as one of the credits required for graduation. View basic state requirements.

 APS requires some additional credits. View information about graduation requirements at APS. 

For more information on  additional programs, view Alternative Methods of Earning Credits.