The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education is working on updating its goals and guardrails, tools they say will help improve the academic proficiency of students and better support teachers. The board set its primary goals and heard updates from Superintendent Scott Elder related to interim sub-goals which will track their progress. The board took no action on the sub-goals at their June 7 meeting.
The interim sub-goals are being used as measures of progress meant to increase the likelihood that the primary goals will be achieved. The district is also working on interim sub-guardrails to help guide their performance, but at the June 7 meeting discussed only the sub-goals.
Goal 1: Early Literacy
APS’ Goal 1 focuses on improving literacy and English Language Arts performance. The district is working on three sub-goals to monitor progress toward their target. All three sub-goals aim to improve ELA proficiency rates from May 2023 to May 2026.
The first sub-goal is designed to see an increase in kindergarten student ELA proficiency; the second goal focuses on increasing first grade student ELA proficiency; the third goal aims to see an increase in second grade proficiency increases.
Goal 1 reads, “The percentage of third-grade students identified in the Yazzie-Martinez decision plus African American students who demonstrate grade level proficiency or above on the state English Language Arts (ELA) summative assessment will increase from X in May 2023 to Y in May 2028.”
Goal 2: Math Proficiency
Goal 2 focuses on improving student performance in mathematics. APS set three sub-goals, looking to see growth in student math proficiency. The first sub-goal wants to see an increase in sixth grade mathematics proficiency; the second sub-goal aims to see an increase in seventh grade students; and the third sub-goal looks for an increase in eighth grade student proficiency.
Goal 2 reads, “The percentage of eighth-grade students identified in the Yazzie-Martinez decision plus African American students who demonstrate grade level proficiency or above on the state mathematics summative assessment will increase from X in May 2023 to Y in May 2028.”
Goal 3: Post-Secondary Readiness
Goal 3 aims to see an increase in students who earn two or more credits from advanced placement, dual credit, bilingual seal and industry certification courses, setting a time limit for 2028 to achieve this. APS has set three sub-goals to reach this goal.
Sub-goal 3.1 looks at students who drop out of high school. The district wants to see the number of students who dropped out in 2023 decrease by May 2026.
Sub-goal 3.2 is a benchmark for the district, looking to see an increase in students taking two or more credits from advanced placement, college, bilingual and industry certification courses from 2023 to 2026, with the hope it will keep the district in line to meet the main goal by 2028.
Sub-goal 3.3 will specifically focus on 11th grade students, it is geared toward seeing an increase in students taking advanced placement, college, bilingual and industry certification courses by May 2026.
Goal 3 reads, “The percentage of high school graduates who earn credit in two or more Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Dual Credit courses, or earn an industry certification or Bilingual Seal, will increase from X in September 2023 to Y in September 2028.”
Goal 4: Skills, Habit, and Mindsets for Life Success
Goal 4 focuses on equipping students with skills, habits, and tools for them to be successful post-high school. There are three sub-goals, focusing on fifth grade, eighth grade, and 10th grade students. The sub-goals are oriented toward increasing the number of students demonstrating the “skills, mindsets, and habits most aligned to life success: perseverance, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and social awareness” by 2026.
Goal 4 reads, “Increase the percentage of students who demonstrate the skills, mindsets, and habits most aligned to life success: perseverance, self-regulation, self-efficacy, and social awareness from X in 2023 to Y in 2028 as measured by an evidence-based and aligned tool.”
What About Other Grades?
Students and grade groups that are not specified in the sub-goals will continue to receive instruction and tracking, but the focus of these goals will be on the specific school groups. Explaining this, Elder said to the board, “You all have asked us to focus on four goals and align resources to four goals to meet these needs. To an extent, you are correct that there will be a lessening of our ability to support or maintain – you know – full observation on these other programs. However, I will say, nowhere in your goal did you say we should feed kids, we’re still going to feed kids. We are not going to stop teaching reading after third grade. We will still look at those rates.” Elder said the district will continue tracking all grade levels, regardless of the specific requirements in the goals.
“I would say that we have worked hard to try to align these things, so it does match: One – what the goal is asking; two – that it measures as much of what the student performance is,” Elder told the board.
APS will establish the X and Y of their Goals after they receive results from the 2022-23 state assessments.
