New master plan

Reedy says district needed a simpler plan

Learning Zones just one piece of academic plan for APS

Albuquerque Public Schools’ Learning Zone concept is just one piece of a new academic master plan that will guide the state’s largest school district for years to come.

It was presented to the Board of Education this spring and goes into effect during the upcoming school year, which starts today.

Superintendent Raquel Reedy said she began reviewing the previous academic master plan when she was appointed in 2015 and decided it wasn’t user-friendly.

“Past academic master plans have been 80 pages — it’s overwhelming,” she said.

The new document is much shorter and simpler. The plan begins with an ambitious message from Reedy: “I have entered into a contract with our students, employees, families and communities to turn Albuquerque Public Schools into New Mexico’s premier district. Our goal is to become first in the state when it comes to graduation rates, with all of our students prepared to become successful, fulfilled individuals . ... We can do this. We will do this.”

APS is facing numerous challenges, with low test scores and a poor graduate rate. Only 27 percent of students are proficient in English and 19.7 percent in math, according to 2017 PARCC results released in July.

In 2016, 66 percent of APS students got diplomas, a 4 percentage point increase over the previous year, but still below the 71 percent state average.

The academic master plan charts a path to improvement for the district’s 84,000 students and 141 schools.

At its heart are Reedy’s “Big Five”: early learning, college and career readiness, attendance, developing the whole child and parent and community engagement. According to the plan:

Early Learning: APS aims to ensure students are reading by the third grade by working with “preschoolers, our young parents, our expectant mothers and fathers.”

College & Career Readiness: “This will involve getting more students to pass their classes — including algebra — on the first try,” the plan states. “It will also mean helping them find their passion and providing them with real-world opportunities through internships, shadowing opportunities, and mentorships supported by the local business community.”

Attendance: APS “will do a better job of monitoring absences, staying in touch with parents, helping students and families appreciate the value of going to class.”

The Whole Child: “Often, when children miss school it’s because there are other things going on in their lives,” the plan states. “Hunger, unemployment, illness, trauma. We have to embrace the whole child and meet their needs so that they can be successful in the classroom. This means working with organizations and businesses that have just as much at stake as we do.”

Parent and Community Engagement: “Families are our students’ first teachers,” the plan states. “They play a vital role in the education of their children, so it’s important that we listen to them, keep them informed, engage them in the classroom and school, and support them.”

A key part of the plan is the Learning Zone model, which divides the district into quadrants and will help APS address these targets, Reedy said.

“Our district has unique communities,” she said. “It can’t be one size fits all.”

Reedy said local businesses and organizations can contribute by offering internships or job shadow opportunities.

“What’s come back to me very, very clearly is that many, many of our students do not have a clue of what opportunities they have as adults,” Reedy said. “They don’t have any goals because they don’t even know what to look for . ... It’s a sad kind of situation.”

For more information on the APS Academic Master Plan, go to www.aps.edu/academics.