Hello CNM!
Hope you’re enjoying summertime!
I can’t believe that before the end of this summer, we’ll be opening up a new APS-CNM early college high school, which is now officially named the College and Career High School at CNM.
This school truly marks a major milestone for the progress of public education in our region, and we hope it will lead to many other new efforts that will improve educational outcomes for students and families across the state. As educators, as community members, as parents, we all must be vigilant about making progress on improving the rates of educational success in our state.
Of course, I think this new College and Career High School is a huge step in the right direction, not just for CNM, but for everybody in the region. The idea behind this school is much bigger than CNM – it’s about laying the groundwork for meaningful education reform across our community and state. And I think we all understand how important it is to enact meaningful education reform across the entire public education system, for the good of all. The current education stats in New Mexico, as we all unfortunately know, don’t bode well for our state’s future. As a community and as a state, we have to speed up progress. And as the largest postsecondary institution in New Mexico, we at CNM have to help lead.
Right now, this high school isn’t going to have a big impact on our normal operations. We already have about 2,000 high school students taking dual credit classes across our campuses. The new school is only going to add about 150 or so high school students to that number this upcoming school year. Half of their day will be spent in the S Building taking APS classes, and the other half will be spent in regular CNM classes across the campus.
Just as our dual credit numbers continue to grow year by year, we expect the College and Career High School will steadily grow as well.
When high school students and their families are considering enrolling in this school, they will be clearly informed that the curriculum will be more rigorous. They will be informed that this school is for motivated, goal-oriented students who understand that they’ll be entering a unique environment that blends high school and college settings. The students will need a certain level of maturity to succeed, and that will be conveyed to the prospective students and their families.
And as they succeed, they’ll leave this high school with an associate degree, a certificate or enough college credits to enter a university as a junior. That thought puts a big smile on my face!
This is obviously an endeavor that is new to CNM, bringing new challenges and new hopes. But I’m curious about what you think of this effort? Do you think CNM is on the right track with this College and Career High School? Do you have reservations about high school students being on campus?
I’m really interested to hear what you think. Please continue the conversation below.
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