Albuquerque Public Schools’ (APS) magnets reflect the rich history of our city as an historical hub of science, research, and technology as well as the rich culture and history reflected in the arts. Eighteen magnet schools serve 5,239 of APS’ 84,000 students in neighborhood and no-boundary magnets with themes as diverse as our City: Dual Language (Spanish and English), New Tech Network, Early College High Schools, International Baccalaureate, home school hybrid, alternative magnet high schools, blended learning, and the first K-12 neighborhood magnet pathway, Engineering the Future.

Magnet schools in Albuquerque began to pop up in the 1980’s as a result of declining enrollment in aging neighborhoods. While districts around the country were creating magnet schools in response to desegregation orders, Albuquerque schools would declare themselves magnets with a theme to attract students from around the city to maintain viable enrollment. In the late 2000’s, several specialized high school programming popped up in the form of magnet schools and programs. Thus, the “popcorn,” imagery in our program. The resulting effect of the popcorn approach was a variety of themes clustered in a few areas of our 1,200 square mile school district without connection from elementary to middle to high school. This popcorn approach has been compounded over time by the upstart of 55 schools over two decades that currently serve 15,000 students.

The core of the Office of Innovation and School Choice is to bring coherence to a magnet school strategy through developing a portfolio of geographically accessible innovative school choices to meet the needs of students and families and support Albuquerque’s economic ecosystem. In support of this vision, APS was awarded our State’s first MSAP grant to establish a K-12 Engineering the Future pathway of neighborhood magnet schools. With the support of Sandia National Laboratories, Air Force Research Lab, the University of New Mexico’s Innovation Department, New Mexico State University’s Engineering Department, and Explora, the Engineering the Future pathway launched in the fall of 2018. Additionally, APS seeks to expand the current magnet offerings to achieve equity in geographic accessibility while growing K-12 pathways of innovative choices.