Last week, Albuquerque Public Schools’ Superintendent Dr. Gabriella Duran Blakey outlined her vision for the future during the first State of the District. The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce’s Chairman Del Esparza, founder of Esparza Advertising + Digital; GACC CEO/President Terri Cole; and Sherman McCorkle, GACC Legislative Session and Local Government Advocacy Chair and president of the Sandia Science and Technology Park, were all in attendance.
Duran Blakey spoke about the district’s struggles by sharing some statistics:
- Only 38% of third-graders are proficient in reading.
- Only 26% of eighth-graders are proficient in math.
- Just 72% of seniors graduate on time.
“I recognize that we have a lot of work ahead of us, and we have a long road to get there, but I assure you that my sleeves are rolled up and I’m ready to do whatever is necessary to improve the academic outcomes for each and every one of our students at every level of APS. From our central office to our classrooms, we have hard working, very dedicated educators,” Duran Blakey said. “Each one of them wants our students to succeed, and that’s as true today as it was 133 years ago when Albuquerque Public Schools was founded.”
Blakey said the APS community created goals and guardrails to guide its work that would improve student outcomes.
She said the goals are aimed at improving outcomes for Native American, Black and economically disadvantaged students, as well as English learners and students with disabilities. The goals outlined are:
- Early Literacy: Increasing the percentage of third-grade students identified in the Yazzie-Martinez decision plus African American students who demonstrate grade-level proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA) from 27.3% in May 2023 to 37.3% by May 2028.
- Math Proficiency: Raising the percentage of eighth-grade students identified in the Yazzie-Martinez decision plus African American students who demonstrate grade-level proficiency in mathematics from 11.1 percent in May 2023 to 21.1 percent by May 2028.
- Post-Secondary Readiness: Enhancing the percentage of high school graduates who earn credit in two or more Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Dual Credit courses, or who earn an industry certification or Bilingual Seal, from 39.6 percent in September 2023 to 49.6 percent by September 2028.
- Skills, Habits, and Mindsets for Life Success: Increasing the percentage of students who demonstrate key life skills such as perseverance, self-regulation, self-efficacy and social awareness by 10 percentage points across various metrics by 2028.
Duran Blakey said the district’s current leadership will be focused on making changes to improve academic performance across the board.
She took the reins on July 1 and has already implemented key actions in less than two months.
The actions include:
- Administrative Reorganization: Aimed at better positioning the district’s central office to meet the outlined goals.
- Strategic Plan Alignment: Fine-tuning the district’s existing strategic plan, “Emerging Stronger,” to ensure it is directly aligned with the goals.
- Curriculum Consistency: Working with teachers to create units of study that standardize the content taught at each grade level across the district, and aligning the sequence and timing.
- Teacher Training: Committing to training every elementary school teacher and principal in LETRS, a professional development program focused on structured literacy.
- Community School Partnerships: Expanding partnerships to provide students with the necessary support services to succeed.
- Fine Arts Expansion: Completing the district’s initiative to ensure every APS elementary school has art and music programs.
- Attendance Initiatives: Expanding programs to combat chronic absenteeism, with nearly 31 percent of students chronically absent last school year.
