Albuquerque Public Schools
The Academies of Albuquerque
Concept that will debut this fall at Manzano and Highland offers even more hope for the future.
Albuquerque Public Schools is on the threshold of a new era in high school education.
With an eye toward rigor, relevance and excellence, two APS high schools soon will take the initial steps in what eventually will be a transformative change in the way secondary education is delivered and experienced throughout the city.
Highland and Manzano high schools will be the first to incorporate an innovative model of school transformation this fall, starting with freshmen in August. Eventually, APS plans to spread the change to all of its 13 comprehensive high schools, aiming to offer students the opportunity to receive real-world teaching and coaching on a variety of potential career fronts.
What does that mean exactly?
Imagine a high school in which every student has a menu of potential career pathways, with a large cadre of community business partners providing expertise, guidance and networking opportunities all along the way. Those pathways would run the gamut of opportunity aligned to New Mexico’s economic environment and future workforce needs, from culinary to medical and beyond, and use the industry lens to engage students more deeply in core classes such as math, English, social studies and science.
When fully incorporated, the Academies of Albuquerque model will fully embrace APS’ Goals 3 and 4 – offering improved opportunities for post-secondary readiness and improving the skills, habits and mindsets most aligned to life success.
The goal is to create an environment that promotes not just learning, but engagement – something that drives interest, improves attendance, and yes, educational outcomes.
Highland and Manzano will be the pioneers of the academies model. These schools will launch a Freshman Academy in the 2025-26 school year. The Freshman Academy framework focuses on helping ninth-grade students explore their aptitudes and interests. It also provides signature experiences for students including a career fair, college fair and/or visit, and a commitment to graduation ceremony.
Other APS high schools have been working with academies models over the years, and some will begin incorporating those concepts into efforts similar to those that are debuting at Highland and Manzano.
For example, Cibola High School recognized early the great value in designing a Freshman Academy to support incoming 9th graders and has implemented a teaming model for students. In this model, teachers share students in common and use data that focuses on attendance, discipline and course performance to ensure that 9th graders don’t fall through the cracks of the first year of high school. In addition, Valley High School was one of APS’ first comprehensive high schools to embrace a magnet school model designed for students who are interested in engineering, architecture, computer science, welding, carpentry and JROTC. Rio Grande High School is launching an innovative environmental STEM pathway that will deliver cutting-edge curriculum integrating technology, sustainability and environmental sciences.
It’s important to note APS does not see the initial launch as merely a pilot program. The district is committed to building on existing programming to realize a full buildout over several years, one that eventually will involve every comprehensive high school and every student.
“We’re about to move into a new era in our high schools, and while the 2025-26 school year will be a learning year for us, I’m confident the Academies of Albuquerque model will be a great change in how we provide education to our students,” said Superintendent Gabriella Blakey.
APS is not alone in this effort. United Way of Central New Mexico is an anchor partner and will be critical in helping recruit key local business and industry leaders. That process has begun and will continue long after school begins in August.
The project is part of a partnership with Ford Next Generation Learning, a national nonprofit committed to improving education. The academies model is based on a concept launched more than 15 years ago in Nashville, Tennessee, and has grown to include school districts throughout the country and even in Europe. But in structure and flavor, it will be distinctly Albuquerque.
The approach is based on these tenets:
- Making learning relevant and connected to students’ interests and aspirations.
- Supporting college and career readiness with clear pathways aligned to workforce needs.
- Building strong relationships between students, educators and community partners.
- Ensuring equity and access to high-quality, real-world learning for all APS students.
- Strengthening Albuquerque’s future workforce and economic vitality.
At Manzano, incoming freshmen will have the opportunity every nine weeks to go through a career and technical education “wheel,” in which they’ll get a sampling of a potential pathway they could be part of after their freshman year.
“At the end of the freshman year, they would opt into an academy of their choice,” said Manzano Principal Rachel Vigil.
“When we talk about it in staff meetings and through Instructional Council, they see the hope in what the academy models have to offer our students in that it’s just hopefully providing more meaningful and relevant experiences as it relates to their (academic) experience and beyond,” Vigil said of her staff at Manzano.
Dr. Blakey said the academies framework gives schools another – and perhaps, better – chance to connect with students and give them even more reasons to stay in school and build a plan for their futures.
“The success in Nashville and other communities is really energizing,” she said. “And as we build this out and make it our own, I see a day when other districts will be visiting Albuquerque to see how we were able to provide even more opportunities to all of our students.”