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Benjamin Barlow, Principal of North Star Elementary School, joins us to discuss improving student achievement, the role of school culture in student success, and what it takes to serve students from across Albuquerque. We also discuss Principal Barlow’s experience as a former principal and teacher in Mississippi and how his firsthand experience with the Mississippi Marathon informs his work and his belief in what’s possible for education in New Mexico. To learn more about the Mississippi Marathon, listen to these episodes of New Mexico Rising: Semester 4, Episode 1: The Mississippi Miracle (with Erika Huffman) Semester 5, Episode 7: Community Voices: Reflections on the Mississippi Marathon

On this episode, we welcome back NewMexicoKidsCAN Advocacy Manager, Dominica Chavez, as co-host to break down New Mexico’s latest statewide assessment results. Together, Amanda and Dominica unpack student performance in reading and math, highlight areas of progress, and discuss the work that remains to ensure every New Mexico student is reading and doing math on grade level. To learn more about the 2025–2026 statewide assessment results, visit nmvistas.org to explore state, district, and school performance. Visit nmkidscan.org to sign up for emails from NewMexicoKidsCAN and stay up to date on the latest education news and data in New Mexico.

David Diller, Co-Chair of the Changemakers Alumni Spark Change Awards, joins Amanda to discuss the Spark Change Awards, the Spring 2026 award recipients, and why celebrating their success matters. An initiative of Changemakers Alumni, the Spark Change Awards recognize New Mexico schools that are the highest-performing or fastest-improving in reading and math for Yazzie Martinez students. Tune in to hear more about this year’s recipients and how they are demonstrating that improved student outcomes are possible for all students. Read the 2026 Spark Change Awards Press Release: HERE View the 2026 Spark Change Awards Program One-Pager: HERE Learn more about Changemakers New Mexico at nmchangemakers.org and connect with Changemakers on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

On this episode, we welcome Dominica Chavez, NewMexicoKidsCAN Advocacy Manager, as a co-host to discuss some of the biggest education stories happening in New Mexico! Together, Amanda and Dominica discuss New Mexico ranking 50th in education for the 10th year in a row by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, marking a decade of last place, a new Legislative Finance Committee report on extended learning and student achievement, and back-to-school tips for families. Download NewMexicoKidsCAN’s Back-to-School Toolkit here. Read the Legislative Finance Committee Progress Report here. Explore the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2026 KIDS COUNT Data Book here

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 national model for educational reform. Recently, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce hosted Carey Wright, former Mississippi State Superintendent and architect for the Mississippi Miracle (or Mississippi Marathon as she calls it) for a luncheon. Guests heard all about how Mississippi accomplished this incredible feat. In this episode, Dominica and Amanda recap the event and we try something new! After Amanda and Dominica recap Dr. Wright’s remarks we share reflections from other attendees to hear their takeaways. Tune and let us know what you think!

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 East Mountain High School here:  https://www.eastmountainhigh.net/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- New Mexico Vistas Want to learn how your school measures up in New Mexico’s school accountability system? Visit nmvistas.org to see your schools proficiency rates, growth scores and more!  --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign up for the New Mexico Summer Reading Challenge New Mexico's Summer Reading Program is an innovative free program set to empower students from incoming kindergarteners to outgoing eighth graders with focused reading instruction in small groups with trained literacy instructors. Sign up here: https://nmsummerreading.org/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- WE NEED QUESTIONS! Have a question about education in New Mexico? We’d love to answer it in our next episode. Submit a question for us to answer on the podcast here: bit.ly/AskNMRising —------------------------------------------------------------------

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 in between!  Read NewMexicoKidsCAN’s Post Legislative Session Press Release:  https://mailchi.mp/818dec20094d/press-statement-2025nmleg-sb242-tabled-14192072?e=d642e5b038 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign up for the New Mexico Summer Reading Challenge New Mexico's Summer Reading Program is an innovative free program set to empower students from incoming kindergarteners to outgoing eighth graders with focused reading instruction in small groups with trained literacy instructors. Sign up here: https://nmsummerreading.org/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Interested in learning more about the "Honesty Gap" - which is the difference in state reported proficiencies and proficiency rates on NAEP? Check out the analysis by the Collaborative for Student Success: https://forstudentsuccess.org/latest-honesty-gap-analysis-shows-parents-continue-to-be-misled-about-student-academic-performance/ —------------------------------------------------------------------ WE NEED QUESTIONS! Have a question about education in New Mexico? We’d love to answer it in our next episode. Submit a question for us to answer on the podcast here: bit.ly/AskNMRising —------------------------------------------------------------------

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 trajectory-changing schools, where students average 1.3 years of learning, and have maintained that growth for a decade.  Tune into to hear what these schools have in common, and how communities and states can scale the practices of these trajectory changing schools.  Read The Opportunity Makers here:  https://tntp.org/publication/the-opportunity-makers/ Read The Opportunity Myth here:  https://tntp.org/publication/the-opportunity-myth *and don’t forget to tune into our episode about the Opportunity Myth (Semester 3, Episode 1) --------------------------------------------------------------------- WE NEED QUESTIONS! Have a question about education in New Mexico? We’d love to answer it in our next episode. Submit a question for us to answer on the podcast here: bit.ly/AskNMRising —------------------------------------------------------------------

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 for when their child is learning to read.  Check out our Literacy Toolkit here:  https://nmkidscan.org/research-showcase/literacy-toolkit/ Learn more about the May Center for Learning here:  https://www.maycenter.org/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- WE NEED QUESTIONS! Have a question about education in New Mexico? We’d love to answer it in our next episode. Submit a question for us to answer on the podcast here: bit.ly/AskNMRising —------------------------------------------------------------------

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 New Mexico can replicate their success. View NAEP data here:  https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- WE NEED QUESTIONS! Have a question about education in New Mexico? We’d love to answer it in our next episode. Submit a question for us to answer on the podcast here:bit.ly/AskNMRising ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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, and science. Amanda and Danielle discuss the reality of New Mexico ranking 50th in all four tested areas for the 2nd year in a row. They also share highlights from across the country and share more about how they think we can make improvements for New Mexico students.  View NAEP data here:  https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ You can follow Danielle on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/GonzalesforAPS And on BlueSky here:  https://bsky.app/profile/dgonzalesedu.bsky.social --------------------------------------------------------------------- WE NEED QUESTIONS! Have a question about education in New Mexico? We’d love to answer it in our next episode. Submit a question for us to answer on the podcast here: bit.ly/AskNMRising —------------------------------------------------------------------

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 Equip Academy? Check out their website: https://www.equipnm.org/ Interested in finding a great charter school for your student? Check out the Public Charter Schools of New Mexico School Finder: https://publiccharterschoolsofnewmexico.org/find-a-school/ ------------------------------------ WE NEED YOUR QUESTIONS! Submit a question for us to answer on the podcast here: bit.ly/AskNMRising —------------------------------------------------------------------

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 bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of New Mexico (UNM). He then moved to Colorado, where he spent two decades building and selling two successful companies. The first, Roccor, LLC, provided space deployables and small satellite components and was sold to Redwire Space in 2020. The second, Solid Power Inc., focused on solid-state batteries for vehicle electrification and went public in 2022.  After the IPO of Solid Power, Campbell returned to Albuquerque and became involved in the local start-up ecosystem and the UNM community, contributing to the School of Engineering and serving on the UNM foundation board.  “After being gone for 20 years, it was disheartening to see how stagnant the growth is in New Mexico compared to Colorado,” Campbell said. “I’ve never been one to complain, so I’ve decided to use my talents to help New Mexico thrive.”  The "Leaders of Enchantment" podcast is Campbell’s effort to drive growth and innovation in New Mexico by sharing stories of success, resilience, and leadership from local and national figures. Learn more about the podcast and subscribe here: https://www.dougcampbell505.com/leadersofenchantmentpodcast

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 great work of East San Jose on their website or following them on instagram.  Want to learn more about the success of East San Jose? Check out this profile about the school’s progress.  In this episode, Principal Ortiz shares that he wrote a book! You can purchase that book here. --------------------------------------------------------------------- WE NEED YOUR QUESTIONS! Submit a question for us to answer on the podcast here: bit.ly/AskNMRising —------------------------------------------------------------------

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 question here: bit.ly/AskNMRising