Many of those kids are likely to be future dropouts, APS researchers said. But regardless of whether the district is excelling or struggling, even the schools' top leaders concede they cannot say for certain how the district is doing as it enters the 21st century. Although students are regularly tested, no one at APS really agrees on how to use the tests, or what the results mean. The district changes tests every few years and uses different methods to calculate droputs, making it impossible to take trends. Of the piles of statistics APS produces, officials have resisted in the past figuring out just how many kids are failing, dropping out or being pushed out of school via suspensions and expulsions.
Legislators constantly change laws that make it difficult to get a pulse on how schools are doing.
The Albuquerque Board of Education has resisted outsiders telling the district how to change. Frequent shake-ups in administration at APS, largely due to the high turnover of superintendents, generally leads to different philosophies about accountability. A strong teachers union also resists accountability plans, in general, unless teacher pay and teacher training is addressed first. And if accountability takes hold, its proponents say it could provide a way to make real changes in the way kids are taught. Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Brad Allison says he wants to move beyond just test scores for accountability.