'Our system is failing': APS graduation rates plummet as state holds steady

When it comes to graduation rates in New Mexico, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

According to data recently posted to the state Public Education Department’s website, New Mexico seniors overall walked graduation stages in 2022 at a similar rate as the cohort before them, losing only about 1 percentage point for a total graduation rate of 76%.

But in APS, the biggest part in the New Mexico sum as the state’s largest district, the graduation rate when including charter schools dropped by almost 7 percentage points to about 69%, marking the lowest graduation rate the district has seen since the cohort of 2018.

Excluding charter schools, APS’ graduation rate dropped 10 percentage points, from 80% to 70%.

Superintendent Scott Elder explained the drop as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — as the cohort of 2022, much of these students’ high school careers were marred by remote learning caused by the pandemic — and as such the drop was an outcome the district had been expecting for some time.

Although the rates were only recently released, they reflect all four years of high school of the class of 2022, meaning a large chunk of their careers were marred by remote learning caused by the pandemic.

Elder added that as New Mexico’s largest district, APS can see more exaggerated results than New Mexico students at large.

Even so, he said he was “obviously disappointed and I obviously want us to do better.”

This is not the lowest APS’ districtwide graduation rate has been over the last decade, whether including or excluding charter schools — that was the case of the class of 2015, according to district data. But it does disrupt an upward trend since the cohort of 2016.

Of APS’ traditional high schools, district data shows that Del Norte High School and La Cueva High School took the bottom and top spots in graduation rates with about 55% and 84%, respectively. East Mountain High School, a charter, took the top spot overall with an over 90% graduation rate, and Robert F. Kennedy Charter School brought up the rear with 23%.

Graduations dropped in almost every demographic, including among APS’ most underserved students — namely, groups named in the landmark Yazzie-Martinez lawsuit, which found that the state at large wasn’t providing students with disabilities, Native American students, English learners and economically disadvantaged students a sufficient education system.

“What this data is telling us is that our system is failing to serve students. To me, this isn't a reflection of what our students are truly capable of,” said Loretta Trujillo, executive director of Transform Education New Mexico.

Some students especially suffered during the pandemic, Elder said, including students experiencing homelessness, who, because they are “struggling with some real basic necessities,” likely had the hardest times connecting to online courses and fell further behind.

The district’s ongoing shortage in bus drivers, he added, doesn’t help with students’ issues accessing school.

But overall, there are things the district is implementing to right the ship, Elder said.

He touted a focus on career-technical education, which helps teach students academic and job skills, as a way of providing them more opportunities, as well as the district’s new bell schedules as a way of improving attendance among high schoolers.

“There's a lot that can be done. It's going to require a lot of work, both from the school district and the community, but there are ways to improve this,” he said. “The good news is we're having the right conversations, and we're on the right focus.”