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APS says middle-school math is improving but still short of targets; board seeks targeted supports for subgroups
Summary
District leaders reported pockets of double‑digit growth in middle‑school math but said overall 6th and 7th grades remain below interim math targets; board members pressed for targeted interventions for African American and Martinez‑Yazzie groups and for rollout details on high‑dosage tutoring and redesign cohorts.
Superintendent Duran Blakey and district staff told the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education on July 15 that while the district has seen positive growth in some middle‑school math measures, the system remains short of interim goals for 6th and 7th grade math proficiency.
"Our 6th grade students in the targeted groups finished the year at 1.4 percentage points below our interim target, and 7th grade students were at 1.1 percentage points below our target," Blakey said.
Board members highlighted subgroup results in the monitoring report. Board member Heather Benavides asked specifically about an indicated 5.6‑point decline for African American students and pressed district leaders to explain contributing factors and concrete remedies. The district said a root‑cause analysis points to both gaps in prerequisite skills and to nonacademic factors such as low self‑efficacy and belonging that depress engagement in middle school.
"It's a belief, right?" a district presenter said when describing the root‑cause finding. "If students start not to believe they can do the work, they disengage and perseverance declines; just‑in‑time scaffolds and supports in the classroom are part of building that self‑efficacy."
The board and staff discussed several district strategies to accelerate progress. Those include expanding a middle‑school redesign pilot that teams teachers across subjects, increasing attendance and engagement efforts tied to redesign schools, and launching a high‑dosage tutoring initiative intended to provide intensive, targeted support for students identified in real time. District leaders cited early positive examples from cohort schools such as Wilson, Hayes and Hoover where attendance and achievement improved after redesign elements were introduced.
Board members also asked for more disaggregated evidence: whether a small set of schools produced most improvements, whether redesigned schools outperformed traditional models, and where declines were masked by district averages. District leaders said some cohort schools show promising gains and that data disaggregation by school and subgroup will be shared as partners at ASU complete more analysis.
What’s next: district staff said they will continue root‑cause analyses, roll out high‑dosage tutoring next year focused on students with identified gaps, and provide the board with school‑level data to evaluate the middle‑school redesign model’s impact and the efficacy of the strategies targeted at Martinez‑Yazzie and other subgroups.
