APS District News

APS Students Achieve Record Proficiency Rates in State Testing

Posted October 14, 2025, 10:40 AM. Updated October 15, 2025, 10:03 AM.

District sees improvements in language arts and math scores, validating new instructional strategies.

Albuquerque Public Schools students demonstrated their strongest performance yet on the New Mexico Measures of Student Success and Achievement, with language arts proficiency increasing by 4.8 percentage points and math proficiency by 2.3 percentage points compared to the previous year.

The gains are captured in the latest state testing data released today by the New Mexico Public Education Department. 

Excluding charter schools, the district’s overall proficiency rates were 43.5 percent in English Language Arts and 26.5 percent in mathematics. The assessment was administered to more than 30,000 APS third through eighth graders in the spring of 2025.  

Those overall rates are the best scores APS students have achieved on the test since the state switched to the New Mexico Measures of Student Success and Achievement. The assessment was administered fully for the first time in the spring of 2022.

“We’re absolutely thrilled with the results. This validates the strategies we’ve put into place to improve outcomes for all of our students,” Superintendent Gabriella Blakey said. “The hard work of our students, teachers, principals and so many others is truly making a difference.”

“We recognize we still have a long way to go to get where we want to be, but this is a really good start,” Dr. Blakey added.

In English Language Arts proficiency, APS schools making significant strides include:

• Bellehaven Elementary, 21 percentage point increase
• Pajarito Elementary, 20.5 percentage point increase
• Manzano Mesa Elementary, 18.3 percentage point increase
• San Antonito Elementary, 17.3 percentage point increase
• John Baker Elementary, 15.5 percentage point increase
• Cleveland Middle, 15 percentage point increase
• And John Adams Middle, 15 percentage point increase

APS schools achieving significant gains in their math proficiency rates include:

• Matheson Park Elementary, 16.2 percentage point increase
• Zia Elementary, 11.1 percentage point increase 
• San Antonito Elementary, 9.1 percentage point increase
• Seven Bar Elementary, 9 percentage point increase
• Manzano Mesa Elementary, 8.7 percentage point increase
• Mission Avenue Elementary, 8.4 percentage point increase 
• MacArthur Elementary, 8.1 percentage point increase

The district gains are a direct result of the focused efforts to enhance student outcomes, aligning with the new goals established by the APS Board of Education in 2023. That work includes progress monitoring, where top APS administrators go before the board regularly to discuss progress being made toward achieving each of the goals.

Strategies for improving student outcomes include delivering consistent grade-level instruction and teaching to the highest-performing students, raising the bar for the whole class. APS has also prioritized high-quality instructional materials, teacher collaboration and using student data to guide lessons. 

The four five-year goals focus on literacy, math, college and career readiness, and skills, habits and mindsets for life success. The first two goals – focused on literacy and math – were geared toward improving academic outcomes for African American students and those identified in the Martinez-Yazzie court decision: Native American students, English Language Learners, students with disabilities and those who are economically disadvantaged. The board established these goals based on extensive input from the community.

Blakey said teachers, principals and all other APS staffers are united in the effort to ensure that students are prepared for the world they’ll encounter when they graduate.

“We’re teaching our students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers and good communicators,” she said. “We’re encouraging them to be engaged citizens driven by a growth mindset, and we’re pushing them to be innovative, collaborative and socially and culturally aware. We’re teaching them to persevere and to be advocates for themselves, for their families, and for those in this world who can’t stand up for themselves.”