The 2026-27 school year is upon us and this week multiple officials with the Albuquerque Public Schools system held a news conference for local media to answer questions in advance of this school year which starts this week KANW was there.
Superintendent Dr. Gabriella Duran Blakey, we begin this year with momentum during the 2025 2026 school year. Albuquerque Public Schools made progress toward our board of education goals. Reading remains a bright spot for us with our first and second grade students exceeding their targets. We are equally proud that our younger students met all targets related to skills such as perseverance, self-control, confidence, and empathy, foundational skills that will prepare them for the future.
We are also seeing more students graduate, prepared for college and careers thanks to increase participation in advanced placement, courses, and career learning classes. While, we celebrate these successes. We are also focused on areas for improvement, particularly in middle school math and strengthening our student sense of belonging in middle and high school. Our commitment to our students is clear at the elementary level we continue to focus on early literacy, math and critical thinking through enrichment programs like our genius hour.
In middle school teachers are collaborating through project base learning and increased, focused on math to identify learning gaps earlier.
In high school are academies of Albuquerque or transforming the student experience by connecting classroom learning to real world career pathways, including internships and industry certifications, and this year, our freshman academies will be available at nine of our high schools, giving students the opportunity to build connections and explore careers before selecting a pathway.
We are expanding programs that ensure students feel connected from day one this year, our incoming 6th graders into middle school and ninth graders into high school will begin school a day early on Thursday to build relationships and confidence with support of peer mentors.
Belonging is at the heart of our work in our schools because we know that when students feel supported they engage, learn and succeed. Community support is also vital. We need every student in our classrooms every day, families, neighbors, businesses, and community partners all have a role to play and making that happen. Because when our students are in class, they’re able to excel.
I want to take a quick moment to reflect on some of our student successes from last school year. Our students earn 77 associate degrees 733 industry certifications and brought home more than 310,000 thousand dollars who paid internships.
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