APS surpasses 3-year reading goal but falls short in math - Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque Public Schools has met its three-year goals for underserved students in first and second grade reading but fell short in middle school math.
According to assessment data from the end of the school year, 34% of first graders and 38.6% of second graders were proficient in reading. Though this means the majority of students in both grades still did not meet the benchmark, these are the highest scores reported since at least 2021.
“These results reflect steady growth over the past three years and demonstrate that our early literacy initiatives are moving us in the right direction,” Superintendent Gabriella Durán Blakey said at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting.
At the end of the 2024-25 school year, 28.5% of first graders and 32% of second graders were proficient in reading.
In first grade, Native American students showed some of the biggest gains of any demographic — 27.4% of Native American first graders were proficient in reading, compared with 15.3% at the end of last school year. At the end of the 2021-22 school year, the share of Native American first graders proficient in reading was just 7%.
The 2018 Yazzie-Martinez decision ruled that the state of New Mexico has a constitutional obligation to provide every student with an equal opportunity and a sufficient education, especially Native American students, English language learners, students with disabilities and economically disadvantaged students — all of whom make up around 70% of New Mexico’s student population, according to the Public Education Department.
First graders included in Yazzie-Martinez and Black first graders — who are not specifically named in the lawsuit, but are included in the group by APS — scored a reading proficiency rate of 29.2%, up from 23.2% the year before.
These scores mean the district has met the goal it set for itself three years ago — to raise first grade reading proficiency among students named in Yazzie-Martinez and Black students from 17% in May 2023 to 23% in May 2026.
Second graders reported similarly positive gains. A share of 38.6% of second grade students were proficient in reading, compared with 32% at the end of last school year. The only group across both grades to see a decline was English language learners in the second grade, whose reading proficiency dropped by 0.8% since the end of last school year.
Among Yazzie-Martinez and Black second graders, reading proficiency was 32.6%, up from 25.7% the year before, indicating the district has again exceeded its goal — to raise second grade reading proficiency from 18.3% in May 2023 to 24.3% in May 2026.
Reading proficiency for third grade students is measured using the state assessment, for which results have not yet come back, APS officials said.
Durán Blakey said Wednesday the gains were the result of a district-wide effort to improve reading outcomes through classroom instruction, summer reading institutes for struggling students and more professional development for teachers.
“In education we often want something to be a singular answer,” she said, “but there are so many different factors that really influence what happens in the classroom. The primary is the teacher, so I think a lot of the work that our teachers have been doing, particularly focused on reading (in) elementary (school), has really shown results.”
For first and second graders, reading assessments are taken using the artificial intelligence-powered software Amira, of which some teachers and staff have questioned the accuracy.
APS staff members told the Journal in April they had concerns over the program’s inconsistent scoring and inability to decipher the speech of children with impediments or foreign accents.
Board member Rebecca Betzen said Wednesday that she was cautious to accept the positive results because of the issues with the testing program, adopted this year and required for evaluations by the Public Education Department.
“I am a little apprehensive because we changed the test, so I'm still not 100% on board that it is aligned,” Betzen said. “I'm hoping it is, because that would be great news.”
Before this school year, students used Istation, a testing software without AI. The company was acquired by Amira.
In math, students did not show the same progress. Of sixth graders, 30% were proficient in math, the same as last year.
Yazzie-Martinez and Black sixth graders showed marginal gains in math — these students scored 0.8% higher than at the end of last school year, but the progress wasn’t enough for the district to meet its goal of 22.6% proficiency by May 2026.
Among seventh graders, math proficiency dropped by 0.1% since last school year, for a total proficiency rate of 25.1%. Yazzie-Martinez and Black students reported a proficiency rate of 17.9%, indicating the district had fallen just short of its goal of 19% proficiency by May 2026.
These students were in first and second grade during the COVID pandemic, as noted by board member Courtney Jackson, meaning they missed crucial school years early on.
The so-called “COVID slide” of pandemic learning loss impacts student learning forever, Durán Blakey said.
“It’s never just going to go away,” she continued.
Though results indicate a majority of the tested students at APS are not proficient in reading and math, the scores are still better than the dismal statewide results from fourth and eighth graders, who scored 50th in the country on a national exam.
New Mexico ranked last in a 2024 report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which showed only 20% of fourth graders were proficient in reading and 23% were proficient in math.
In middle school, scores were worse: 19% of eighth graders showed proficiency in reading and 14% in math.
The state Legislature passed a pair of bills last session designed to bolster reading and math instruction that will take effect when the new school year starts in August. Senate Bill 37, the first of the two measures, mandates that teachers use an instructional method called “the science of reading,” which uses an approach similar to phonics, and places literacy coaches at low-performing elementary schools.
Senate Bill 29 requires teachers to take additional coursework in math instruction before getting their teaching license. Both bills require regular assessment and progress reports to parents.
As the state’s largest district, APS accounts for about 22% of New Mexico’s public school students, said Thomas West, executive director of the district’s Office of Accountability and Reporting. In order for New Mexico’s test scores to climb, APS will need to play a significant part, he said.
“If numbers go up in APS, numbers go up in the state,” West said.
New UNM president Goldstein officially begins his term - Natalie Robbins, Albuquerque Journal
Incoming University of New Mexico president Dr. Steve Goldstein began his term as the 24th head of the state’s largest university Wednesday.
Goldstein, a pediatric cardiologist, comes to UNM from the University of California, Irvine, where he served as vice chancellor for health affairs since 2024. He replaces former President Garnett Stokes, who retired this month after eight years in the role.
Stokes was UNM’s first female president and its longest-serving in nearly three decades.
Goldstein was selected by the Board of Regents in May from a pool of five finalists following a nationwide search. A physician and professor of physiology and biophysics, Goldstein has held leadership positions at Yale University, the University of Chicago, Loyola University Chicago and Brandeis University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Brandeis and both an M.A. and Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard University.
Goldstein signed a five-year contract beginning July 15 and running until June 30, 2031. He will be paid a base salary of $850,000 and will live on campus in University House, as Stokes did.
“It is a profound honor to be invited to serve as the next president of the University of New Mexico,” he said in a May statement. “Building on the strong foundation that has been laid by outgoing President Stokes and her predecessors, I look forward to joining this community and to all we will accomplish together."
New Mexico advocates, elected officials decry federal proposal to curtail Chaco Canyon protections - Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
The Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday began a two-week public comment period for its proposal to roll back or completely undo Biden-era protections against oil and gas operations near Chaco Culture National Historical Park, prompting outcry from environmental advocates and members of New Mexico’s federal delegation.
Current protections make more than 336,000 acres off-limits to mining and mineral leasing for 20 years, effectively creating a 10-mile buffer around the site, which holds spiritual and cultural significance for several tribes and pueblos. The proposal has three options: leave the 10-mile buffer intact; reduce it to five miles; or do away with it completely.
The public comment period ends July 29.
Environmental advocates and Indigenous New Mexicans said the area has already “endured serious damage from decades of unchecked development.”
“To strip away protections now, against the clear opposition of Tribal Nations, shows a disregard for our sovereignty, our health and our future,” Keegan King, executive director of the New Mexico-based Native Land Institute, said in a statement.
Democratic members of New Mexico’s federal delegation similarly criticized the proposal. All five of New Mexico’s Democratic U.S. senators and representatives in 2025 introduced legislation to permanently protect Chaco Canyon.
In a statement posted to social media, U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) wrote that President Donald Trump’s administration “seems hellbent on destroying an irreplaceable historic and cultural landscape that has 4,700 archeological sites that could be lost to the bulldozers of oil and gas development.”
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), who serves as ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, called the proposal “out of touch and immoral” and urged New Mexicans to submit public comments online.
The Bureau of Land Management did not respond to Source NM’s request for comment.
Chaco Culture National Historic Park sits in northwest New Mexico, near the Navajo Nation and the Four Corners region. The area, full of unique, sprawling dwellings such as those found in Pueblo Bonito, was a cultural and economic hub for the San Juan Basin about 1,000 years ago, according to the U.S. National Park Service.
The move also drew outcry from state-level elected leaders. New Mexico Commissioner of Public Lands Stephanie Garcia Richard, a Democrat who is in the running to be gubernatorial nominee and former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s running mate in the Nov. 3 general election, in a statement said that the Trump administration is “showing a complete disregard for Indigenous cultures and for New Mexicans in general.”
“Chaco Canyon is one of the most special places on the planet, cherished by the state’s Nations, Pueblos, and Tribes, and it deserves to be protected at all costs,” she wrote, adding that she had previously removed nearly 73,000 acres of state land in the 10-mile buffer from mineral leasing.
Garcia Richard wrote that the two-week public comment window is not sufficient time for New Mexicans to weigh in on the proposal.
“Under my direction, the State Land Office is looking into administrative options to make the protections for state lands in the Greater Chaco Region more permanent and binding,” she wrote. “New Mexicans love Chaco Canyon, and we will keep fighting to protect it from vicious attacks like this one. I call on every New Mexican to make their voice heard on this critical threat.”
Land grant, national forest ink deal to allow wood processing - Santa Fe New Mexican
In Northern New Mexico, the Carson National Forest and Las Trampas Land Grant have entered into an agreement to allow for some immediate wood processing and cooperation on additional projects in the future.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the memorandum of understanding will allow for collaboration on projects within the land grant's former common lands which are now part of the national forest.
Las Trampas land grant President Juan López said in a statement, “We are once again starting to meet the grant’s original intent.”
The Santo Tomás Apostol del Río de las Trampas Land Grant covers more than 28,000 acres. It was established in 1751 by Spanish colonial governor Tomás Vélez de Cachupín.
Descendants of the 12 founding families later helped establish nearby communities, including El Valle, Ojo Sarco and Chamisal.
The New Mexican reports that much of the original land grant is now part of the Carson National Forest, including the Trampas Campground near El Valle and the Trampas Lakes trailhead.
Second DEA whistleblower files retaliation complaint - Colleen Heild, Albuquerque Journal
A retired federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent contends he was retaliated against for supporting a whistleblower who alleges the agency has allowed massive quantities of fentanyl onto New Mexico streets in pursuit of larger prosecutions.
Kevin Small, who worked as a DEA contract employee after retiring from a 31-year career with the agency in Albuquerque, is asking the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General to investigate what he describes as recent retaliation.
His complaint is detailed in a letter Wednesday from Tristan Leavitt, president of Fairfax, Virginia-based Empower Oversight, a nonprofit that advocates for federal whistleblowers.
The organization represents Small and Albuquerque-based DEA agent David Howell, who filed a whistleblower complaint in 2023 alleging he was discouraged from stopping suspected deliveries of tens of thousands of fentanyl pills in Albuquerque in 2023 and 2024. Howell contends the practice violated Department of Justice policy.
Since filing his initial complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, Howell has cited additional instances in which DEA agents monitored wiretaps and watched suspected deliveries of more than 1 million fentanyl pills to traffickers' residences without intervening.
The practice, known as "fentanyl walking," has been defended by some prosecutors and law enforcement officials as an effective way to dismantle major drug trafficking organizations. But Howell and others contend the strategy prioritizes long-term investigations over immediate public safety, putting New Mexico residents at risk.
Howell's allegations, first reported by the Albuquerque Journal and The Associated Press on June 21, prompted the DEA's acting administrator to request an investigation by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez also launched a separate inquiry at the request of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Until now, Howell has been the only DEA employee to publicly come forward about the practice.
According to the letter, Small learned of a court-authorized wiretap targeting a major drug trafficker in 2024. During the first intercepted call, agents learned of a shipment of 350,000 fentanyl pills headed to Albuquerque but did not seize it.
Small's reaction was, "Are you kidding me?" the letter states.
"Small was struck by the awareness of this amount of fentanyl from the very first wiretapped phone call," Leavitt wrote.
After news reports about Howell's complaint gained national attention, Small had what the letter describes as a "tense confrontation" with Jeffrey Armijo, the DEA's assistant special agent in charge in Albuquerque.
Armijo could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
According to the letter, Armijo called Small into his office and stopped him at the door.
"If you support David Howell, we're through," Armijo told him, according to the letter.
Small responded that Howell "had not said or done anything" with which he disagreed, the letter states.
Armijo also demanded to know whether Small had connected an Associated Press reporter with Howell. Small said he had.
"Armijo then threatened an investigation of Mr. Small," the letter states.
The letter says the DEA subsequently imposed strict new work hours on Small and required additional reporting of his work activities. Armijo also reversed an earlier decision that would have allowed Small to work part time.
Small later learned Armijo "had instructed DEA agents not to give him any further work," according to the letter.
Small retired from the DEA in 2014 but has continued working as a senior financial investigator under contract with the agency.
Because of the "hostility and retaliation" he faced from Armijo, Small said he had "no choice but to submit his resignation," effective Aug. 31, according to the letter.
The letter says Small was familiar with a 2023 internal Justice Department policy governing fentanyl wiretap investigations that required agents to make reasonable efforts to mitigate risks to the public.
Those efforts were to include executing search warrants, interdicting contraband and protecting public safety "even if taking preventive measures may run the risk of compromising the investigation."
"Thus, (Small) was concerned as he began to hear about potential violations ... from David Howell in 2023, as well as in comments from others in the office," Leavitt wrote.
After Howell filed his complaint in 2023, Small attended a meeting about a wiretap investigation during which two assistant U.S. attorneys in Albuquerque "explicitly directed" those present not to discuss the case with Howell, the letter states.
According to the letter, Small told others in the DEA's Albuquerque office that the U.S. Attorney's Office was wrong and that the DEA should stand up for Howell.
Instead, "Mr. Small soon became aware that the DEA in New Mexico started locking down access to case files, which he believed was to prevent SA Howell or others from learning about additional fentanyl walking."
"The Albuquerque District Office also started locking access to the wire room, with only specific DEA personnel permitted to enter," the letter states.
Because Small continued speaking with Howell, both men were barred from the DEA room where court-authorized wiretaps were monitored, according to the letter.
The letter also says Small made protected disclosures to an Associated Press reporter regarding Howell's credibility as an agent and whistleblower.
Howell alleges he also faced retaliation after filing his complaint, including being barred by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico from testifying in federal court cases.
