12-12-2023 2:19pm

Is an International Baccalaureate World School Program in the works for Alamogordo and Holloman Students?

Chris Edwards Editor

According to well-placed community sources, there is dialogue being led by the Alamogordo Center of Commerce affiliated MainGate United, reviewing the prospect of helping to map a course of action, to bring a potential International Baccalaureate World School to Alamogordo.

If indeed, this were to be accomplished, it would greatly enhance the educational opportunities of students of Alamogordo and Holloman.

This would be a huge enhancement to the educational opportunities of area students. What is the IB program?

While each public school offers different honours and accelerated courses, International Baccalaureate programs are fully inclusive curriculum pathways. This means that, instead of only taking a few honours courses, students instead engage in a constant IB class schedule.

IB Programs are only available at specific schools; however, they are still publicly funded. Essentially, "The IB is a nonprofit educational foundation, motivated by its mission, focused on the student." Programs are available for students ranging from ages 3 to 19, to help develop the "intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world." Since 1968, the IB Program has grown to work with 2,384 schools in 129 countries. Currently, 645,000 students are enrolled in the various IB Programs around the world, while being provided with three different programs: The Primary Years, The Middle Years, and The Diploma Program.

The Diploma program which is being discussed locally caters to high school age students. At present there are 938 schools in the United States offering this program. There are a total of 23,519 public high schools in the US. There are a total 3,626 private secondary schools in the US. Thus, the highly acclaimed IB program is offered in fewer then 4% of the nation's high schools.

In New Mexico only 4 schools offer the program. Sandia Public High School in Albuquerque is the only program in New Mexico offered via a public school system. The Sandia program has been offered since 2013. Per Sandia public school officials, "our IB Diploma Programme offers an academically challenging and balanced program designed to address the intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being of students. Courses in the IB Diploma Programme at Sandia will stress depth over breadth in learning and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Because students are required to accept more responsibility and accountability for their education, the Diploma Programme will have students exceptionally well prepared to succeed at the university level and beyond."

The question, some in the community are debating, is rather the program should be established as an enhancement to the programs of Alamogordo High School?

There is an element within the community that does NOT trust the APS leadership and believes the program should be outside of the school system.

With that in mind an alternative is being championed with some within the Alamogordo Center of Commerce and MainGate United, to bring the program to Alamogordo, but it should be exclusive and outside the purview of the Alamogordo Public School System.

This group is championing the creation of a "charter school" that would be outside the reach of APS and it would administer the program.

The benefit of a charter school approach is it would be a fresh start from scratch, with new leadership; from the administration to the teaching staff all hired new, and specifically for the program.

Today, 29,364 students attend a charter school in New Mexico at one of 97 schools. Approximately 1.1 million students attend public schools in New Mexico in total.

New Mexico’s public charter schools are leading the way forward for innovation in public education, supporting innovative school models such as individualized learning and STEM education. Charter schools provide college credit opportunities in high school, culturally relevant programs and arts education. Most importantly, they act as the vehicle to reform the traditional “one size fits all” model of education.

The negative, is it could potentially pull the best and brightest students from the public school system, and potentially the best and brightest teachers from the public school system. The end result is a system that is less incentivized to improve standards and the remaining students don't necessarily get the benefit of the best in offerings and the best in teachers. Alamogordo's best students would opt out of the APS system and attempt to join via a lottery for enrolment into the new "charter school." The measures of academic success 0f the public high school would be further diminished.

Charter Schools have a mixed history of success. US News and World Report ranks public High Schools and one charter school in New Mexico ranks among the best in the nation. Twenty-one charter schools are recognized in the top 100 schools in the United States. Seventy-Nine of the top 100 High Schools in the nation are traditional public high schools.

The best Charter High Schools in the nation include Signature School in Evansville, IN (#2), BASIS Peoria in Peoria, AZ (#12), Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science in Albuquerque, NM (#16), and BASIS Scottsdale in Scottsdale, AZ (#20).

Although charter schools serve only 6.5% of the nation’s high school students, they account for more than 20% of our nation’s top 100 high schools.

Albuquerque Institute of Math and Science in Albuquerque is not an IB program but is focused exclusively on advanced math, science, and technology skills education. They have been A-rated in the past six years by NM Public Education Department and have scored highest in national PARCC and international PISA results. But is an example of a very specialized charter school that has done well in New Mexico and ranks nationally as one of the best.

A History of Charter Schools in New Mexico.

Since the enactment of New Mexico’s charter school law in 1993, more than 100 public charter schools in New Mexico have offered parents and students choices in their education. There have been controversies over charter schools. Supporters praise the autonomy that charter schools enjoy in adapting school designs to meet the needs of students, especially those in communities with historically low school quality.

Opponents complain that charter schools take students and resources from district schools and further strain existing public schools’ ability to improve. However, only a fraction of the debate is grounded in well-researched evidence about charter schools’ impact on student outcomes.

The need for evidence about charter school performance is especially strong in New Mexico and so in February 2019, the House Education Committee passed a proposed moratorium on opening new charter schools in New Mexico until 2022, clearing the first legislative hurdle for the proposal.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed support for the moratorium until state leaders review how charter schools in operation are performing. Earlier in 2017, two nonpartisan legislative committees issued a report indicating that the state's three online schools have "struggled to provide acceptable outcomes, demonstrate fiscal responsibility, and comply with state law."

In early 2019, a bill that intended to add “new application and reporting requirements, new charter contract terms, shorten[ed]the charter term length, and capped initial enrolment until a performance threshold was met” for virtual charter schools failed to reach a final vote before the legislative session ended.

The findings from the analyses show that in a year's time, the typical charter school student in New Mexico makes similar progress in both reading and math compared to the educational gains that the student would have made in a traditional public school.

Online Charter and Online Public Schools Falter versus Brick-and-Mortar Programs.

Per a study commissioned by the state of New Mexico and facilitated Stanford University CREDO demonstrates that, enrolment in online charter schools is associated with substantially weaker learning gains in both reading and math and that the inferior performance of online charter schools offsets the positive impact of brick-and-mortar charter schools on student growth in reading. The learning gains of charter school students in various subgroups are comparable to the gains of their TPS peers in the same subgroup."

However online schools in general have poor results compared to traditional brick and mortar schools. “The growth of this sector (online high schools) has continued despite scant research to support it and continued poor overall performance,” the report’s authors said in a statement. “Policymakers have yet to adequately address six pressing areas of concern related to virtual schools: their governance, funding, accountability, curriculum, instruction quality, and teacher quality,” per a report by the National Education Policy Center.

MainGate United and the Charter School Discussion:

An event was hosted at the Alamogordo Center of Commerce on December 7th titled, “Charter School 101 – Community Partner Reveal” at the Reception Hall. The event attracted several legislative charter supporters, and community leaders. The all-day event began with Dr. Jim Klump, the MainGate Chair, making an opening statement and introductions of the Educational Committee Launch Agent, to include Matt Pahl, the Executive Director and Valery Ratliff-Parker, Deputy Director, both representing Public Charter Schools of New Mexico.

As a part of his opening statement, Dr. Klump mentioned that MainGate conceptualized the idea of opening a public charter school to serve the Alamogordo and Holloman communities. He stated that MainGate is moving forward with the charter school project in response to concerns expressed by Dr. Arsenio Romero, Secretary of Public Education.

While the letter referenced and as reported by certain sources did NOT mention Alamogordo Public Schools, it was an indictment on the New Mexico School System. Per Dr. Arsenio Romero, Secretary of Public Education, "I am deeply alarmed by the high number of low-performing schools and what that means for the state, the children who are being educated here, and our future. Far too many of our schools are underperforming. Students statewide have low reading and math proficiencies. This is unacceptable."

Klump noted a purpose of the charter school discussion is to get the Alamogordo Publics Schools back on track. Klump expressed his thoughts that many families can’t afford the tuition required for alternative schools around Alamogordo, even though they are excellent. "That’s why creating a charter school would be good for the community."

Those in attendance had the chance to participate in questions during open-floor discussions about holding a charter school accountable. Topics in discussion include what school choice looks like for a charter school in New Mexico and curriculum.

Commentary: At AlamogordoTownNews.com and KRAZY KALH Radio we strongly support MainGate United in fostering dialog and options on how to improve the local school system.

IF the dialog is to bring an International Baccalaureate World School program to Alamogordo we fully support and endorse the plan and let's work together and make that happen!

If the plan being championed is to bring a charter school into Alamogordo, we do NOT oppose the idea, having been involved with Charter Schools in the San Francisco Bay Area that specialized in arts, culture and STEM, we have witnessed very successful programs with high achievement.

The KEY is transparency. Dialog must be very open and an honest with the broader public and ALL stakeholders to include representatives of APS. Opposition and proponents' voices must be heard, and concerns addressed to create the best program for the children of Alamogordo and Holloman.

We are not opposed to the concept nor idea of a specialized school and program. Success means the community is educated on the pros and cons of throwing charter school options into the local educational mix.

The broader public to include a diverse constituency from across all social, political, racial, and economic constituencies must be a part of the dialog for the success of any educational institution.

We celebrate the dialog and the efforts of MainGate United and look forward to a full release of information and potential plans for the community at large to consider. Stay tuned...