New Mexico Rising

Have you heard of the Mississippi Miracle? The Mississippi Miracle refers to the dramatic gains Mississippi has made in K-12 literacy outcomes since 2013. Through strategic policy implementation focused on evidence-based literacy instruction, Mississippi rose from 49th in 4th-grade reading to 9th in 2024! Once ranked near the bottom alongside New Mexico, Mississippi's approach has become a nat...

Trey Smith, Executive Director of East Mountain High School, a public charter school located in the east mountains joins Amanda for a conversation about what makes East Mountain successful. Together, Trey and Amanda discuss the history of East Mountain, charter school authorizing, school accountability  and Trey previews the timeline of the brand new East Mountain Middle School.  Learn more about...

The 2025 New Mexico Legislative session has adjourned. Join Amanda for a conversation with Matt Pahl, Executive Director of Public Charter Schools of New Mexico and Dominica Chavez, NewMexicoKidsCAN’s own Advocacy Manager. Together the three discuss this year’s legislative session and how education was addressed, or not addressed for that matter. Tune in to hear the highs, the lows, and everything...

Michael Franco and Kristin Algier from TNTP join Amanda to talk about their latest report, The Opportunity Makers . ​​In schools across the country, far too many students fall behind academically, and most who fall behind stay behind. If we don’t accelerate learning at scale, millions of students may never catch up. But that doesn’t have to be the case. The Opportunity Makers tells the stories of...

Amy Miller, founder of the May Center for Learning joins Amanda to talk about New Mexico’s literacy journey, from the passage of Senate Bill 398 in 2019, to the current momentum behind Senate Bill 242. Amy talks about her work with students and families and how that spurred her work on legislation to strengthen New Mexico’s reading instruction. She also shares some tips for parents on what to look...

Kelli Bottger, executive director of Louisiana Kids Matter, joins Amanda to brag about Louisiana’s stunning growth in reading. With the recent release of NAEP data, Louisiana has emerged as the state to watch in academic progress. In just six years, Louisiana has climbed from being ranked 50th in 4th grade reading in 2019, to 16th in 2024. Tune into learn how Louisiana changed their story, and how...

Danielle Gonzales, member of the National Assessment Governing Board and APS Board President joins Amanda to discuss the 2024 NAEP data that was released yesterday, January 29th. Known as the Nation’s Report Card, NAEP is the gold standard assessment that has measured U.S. student achievement since 1969. Every two years, fourth and eighth-grade students across America are assessed in reading, math...

Mercy Herrera, founder of Equip Academy of New Mexico, and native New Mexican joins Amanda to talk about her education experiences, what inspired her to create a brand new charter school and her hopes for education in New Mexico. She and Amanda talk about the similarities of their educational experiences and what they think it will take to turn things around in New Mexico. Want to learn more about...

Hello New Mexico Rising listeners - we are bringing you special cross over episode from a new local podcast called Leaders of Enchantment! We hope you enjoy! Doug Campbell, an Albuquerque native, has launched the "Leaders of Enchantment" podcast to inspire and support New Mexico's growth by featuring influential leaders and their stories.  Campbell's journey began in Albuquerque, where he earned b...

Eder Ortiz, Principal of East San Jose Elementary in Albuquerque Public Schools joins Amanda to reflect on his own educational experience and how it shaped his experience as a teacher and now principal. Principal Ortiz shares more about how ESJE made enormous strides in reading and math proficiency and why he believes that progress IS possible for all New Mexico Students.  Follow along with the gr...

Matt Montano, Superintendent of Bernalillo Public Schools joins Amanda for the second time to share about the progress that has been made at Bernalillo Public Schools - which has exceeded the state average in graduation rates for all students and for New Mexico's most struggling subgroups. ------------------------- WE NEED QUESTIONS! Submit a question for us to answer on the podcast. Submit your q...

Sonny Sapien, teacher at Albuquerque Collegiate Charter School joins us to chat all about his experience as an educator in New Mexico classrooms. Sonny and Amanda discuss educator preparation programs, recognition in the profession, and the Gilmore Girls. Tune in to hear all about Sonny’s achievements and how he is helping his students unlock their potential!  -------------------------------------...

Marc Porter Magee joins Amanda to discuss a new report from 50CAN, detailing the results of a recent survey of 20,000 parents from across the country. This survey report, “The State of Educational Opportunity in America,” offers an unprecedented, state-by-state examination of how parents are tackling challenges. The survey goes beyond just a view of the classroom to explore a broader ecosystem of...

Gloria Ruiz, joins Amanda to chat all about family engagement and offer some tips on how to prepare for parent teacher conferences! Tune in to learn how to make the best of your time with your child’s teacher!  --------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for our toolkits? Find them here: Literacy Toolkit: https://nmkidscan.org/research-showcase/literacy-toolkit/ B...

“Thank goodness for Mississippi.” It’s a phrase we know all too well, as Mississippi historically ranked behind New Mexico. However, the tables have turned and while New Mexico has been ranked 50th in education for eight consecutive years, Mississippi has gone from being the second-worst state in 2013 to 21st in 2022 in reading outcomes. This has come to be known as the “Mississippi Miracle.” Join...

In this episode, we span the country interviewing education advocates from Hawaii and Tennessee. Amanda is joined by David Sun-Miyashiro, Executive Director of HawaiiKidsCAN and Chelsea Crawford, Executive Director of TennesseeCAN. Together, the three talk about education trends across the country and the need to continue to improve education across the United States of America.

We take a break from our traditional interviews, and welcome Dominica Chavez, NewMexicoKidsCAN Advocacy Manager as a co-host for this week’s episode! Together, Dominica and Amanda talk about a few important news stories in the New Mexico education world including the 180-day instructional rule lawsuit, the Governor’s Summer Reading Program, the starts and stalls for New Mexico’s high impact tutori...

John Binnert, Executive Director of Cottonwood Classical Charter School, joins us for a conversation about what the state can learn from Cottonwood Classical and how students at Cottonwood are outperforming students from across the world! Tune in and learn about what an International Baccalaureate diploma is and what it means for students at Cottonwood Classical.  We also continue our new “Questio...

Kimberly Finke, APS principal, joins Amanda for a conversation about her experience “transforming” Whittier Elementary School after it was identified as one of the four worst schools in New Mexico. Kim discusses what she’s learned from her experiences in schools within and outside of APS and the systems utilized in strong schools. She also shares her thoughts on whether or not there is hope for Ne...

Angela Lopez, Field Director for Public Charter Schools of New Mexico joins Amanda for a conversation about school enrollment season. It’s never too early to consider all the options for your child’s education next school year. Amanda and Angela discuss enrollment timelines for charter schools, magnet schools and even some private schools. Tune in to learn more about how to find the school that is...

Newly named Superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools, Dr. Gabriella Durán Blakey joins us for a conversation just days after she was announced as superintendent of New Mexico’s largest school district. Dr. Blakey shares more about her history in teaching in Washington and New Mexico, opening a charter school and her goals for the district in her new role.  Follow along with APS at aps.edu .

New Mexico Secretary of Education, Dr. Arsenio Romero returns to the studio for a timely conversation about the Public Education Department’s priorities for the legislative session. Amanda and Secretary discuss the need for continued implementation of structured literacy across the Land of Enchantment and the Governor’s goals for literacy in New Mexico.  --------------------------------- Want to l...

Kristin Algier, partner at national education nonprofit, TNTP joins Amanda to talk about the Opportunity Myth. What’s the opportunity myth you ask? Listen in to find out and hear Kristin and Amanda discuss how to improve classroom instruction across New Mexico schools. We talk about the bright spots and the challenges in ensuring every New Mexico student has access to grade appropriate assignments...

Matthew Pahl, Executive Director of Public Charter Schools of New Mexico, joins us for a conversation about the state’s charter schools. Matt and Amanda discuss some recent polling data demonstrating what New Mexicans think about charter schools and Matt does some myth busting about charter schools. We also dive into the upcoming charter enrollment season! Tune in to learn more about charter schoo...

In this episode we are joined by APS Board of Education member, Courtney Jackson. Courtney was elected to the APS Board of Education in 2021. In this episode. Courtney discusses the challenges of serving on the school board, the district's new strategic plan, and the search for the next superintendent. She reflects on the new momentum in the state’s largest district and reflects on why it’s cr...