APS board accepts midyear early-literacy report as principals and teachers describe gains from 'teaching to the top'

The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education on Feb. 5 accepted the district's midyear progress monitoring report on early literacy, after a presentation by the superintendent's team and public comments from principals and teachers who described a district-wide shift to "teaching to the top."

The formal action came after Superintendent Dr. Gabriela DurE1n Blakely and her academic leadership team described district supports and professional development tied to newly adopted instructional materials and interventions; Board Member Britney Jackson moved to accept the report and the motion passed on a roll-call vote.

District presenters and school leaders framed the work as coordinated steps: adoption of new high-quality curriculum (Savvas), professional learning focused on grade-level first instruction, and tiered interventions for students who need additional support. Antonio Gonzales, deputy superintendent for leadership and learning, Sherry Jett, chief academic officer, and Sharon Olguin, associate superintendent for elementary education, described learning labs, resource teachers' coaching, and a Unified Support Team targeting priority schools.

Principals and coaches who spoke during public forum gave classroom-level examples. Raylyn Dooley, principal of Barcelona Elementary, said kindergarten midyear reading proficiency at her campus was 72% and math proficiency 91% on internal measures, and she credited weekly grade-level collaboration and targeted use of high-quality materials. "We're already seeing impressive results on our campus," Dooley said. Julie Trujillo, a kindergarten teacher at Barcelona, told the board that refocusing on grade-level standards and scaffolding up instead of simplifying instruction for the whole class produced gains: "I didn't hold the class back, but instead scaffold up, ensuring that every student who was struggling received the help they needed while our high performers were challenged to grow further."

District officials pointed to several system supports: two-day summer professional learning, learning lab teachers (about 30 teachers trained as models), shared professional development across role groups (special education, Indian education, technology), and intervention tools such as Amira and Waterford that are aligned to the core. Olguin described learning labs as "classrooms within a school" where teachers can observe expert implementation.

Board members questioned how improvements are distributed across student groups. Associate Superintendent Olguin and staff said they are disaggregating data and preparing additional intersectional analyses (by race and program status) and that an expanded data table would be provided in the next "At a Glance". Board Member Josefina DomEDnguez pressed for a deeper root-cause analysis for slower growth among African American students; staff said the district is identifying specific skill gaps, such as fluency and vocabulary, that the professional learning and targeted interventions aim to address. "We have to change the belief" that certain students cannot meet grade-level work, Olguin said, describing culture and coaching work underway.

The board recorded the motion and vote to accept the monitoring report for interim goals 1.1 and 1.2 (early literacy). The motion to accept, made by Board Member Britney Jackson and seconded by Member Madeline Estrella, passed on roll call with all voting members present voting yes.

Although the board accepted the monitoring report as providing sufficient strategy and evidence of progress, members and staff agreed further, more detailed disaggregation of results (intersectionality and by program) would be provided to the board to inform next steps and targeted supports.

The district said the midyear first-grade rate reported in the presentation was 24% with a target of 23% (staff-cited midyear figure). Staff reiterated that the district's work begins in pre-K and kindergarten with aligned instructional materials and tiered supports and will continue to emphasize coaching, PLCs, and monitoring to sustain growth.

Board action: Motion to accept progress monitoring report for interim goals 1.1 and 1.2 (early literacy). Mover: Britney Jackson. Seconder: Madeline Estrella. Outcome: approved (roll-call vote: Jackson, Tom Morito, Estorga, Dominguez, Tapia Romero, Benavides, Gonzales - yes).