Math and Science Bureau Annual Report

In 2025, the Math and Science Bureau continued to lead the statewide effort to modernize high school mathematics pathways. This initiative is designed to expand access, flexibility, and relevance in math education for all New Mexico students.

Following a year of collaboration with educators, higher education partners, and stakeholders, the Public Education Department approved and released the Re-Envisioned High School Mathematics Pathways recommendations on April 16, 2025. This milestone reflects a major step toward ensuring equitable and engaging mathematics learning experiences aligned with college, career, and civic readiness.

The modernized pathways include:

Modern Algebra 2: Focused on conceptual understanding and the “why” behind algebra using modeling and technology.

• Advanced Algebraic Concepts: Designed for students pursuing advanced coursework, emphasizing modeling and preparation for Pre-Calculus/Calculus.
• Introduction to Data Science and Statistics: Centered on real-world data analysis and critical thinking about data-driven narratives.
• Quantitative Reasoning: Emphasizes practical applications of statistics, probability, ratios, and modeling.
• Geo-Stats (Geometry and Statistics): Combines essential geometry concepts with statistical reasoning for well-rounded mathematical literacy.

All pathways are equally rigorous and designed to meet diverse student needs and aspirations, replacing the traditional one-size-fits-all sequence. The phased implementation plan spans three years, culminating in the retirement of traditional Geometry and Algebra 2 by SY2028–29.

Public recognition of this work included a PED press release, a KRQE news feature, and publication of the “Making the Case – NM Re-Envisioning High School Math Pathways” working group report. These resources highlight New Mexico’s commitment to innovation and inclusivity in secondary mathematics education.

For more information, please see the below documents:

• PED Press Release
• KRQE Story
• Making the Case – NM Re-Envisioning High School Math Pathways Working Group Report
• Course Overviews:
  • Geo-Stats
  • Modern Algebra 2
  • Advanced Algebraic Concepts
  • Intro to Data Science and Statistics
  • Quantitative Reasoning
• Implementation Plan

The Launch Years Initiative advanced significantly in 2025, strengthening the bridge between New Mexico’s secondary and post-secondary education systems. This collaborative effort, led by the state taskforce and supported by the Math and Science Bureau, focused on ensuring a smooth transition for students as the state modernizes high school mathematics pathways and graduation requirements.

The final taskforce meeting centered on developing communication strategies to help educators, advisors, and institutions understand the changes to math pathways and graduation requirements. Building on this work, the state team organized a series of regional convenings designed to deepen collaboration and alignment between high schools and colleges across New Mexico.

The first regional meeting was held on May 2, 2025, at San Juan College in Farmington, drawing participation from local post-secondary institutions—including math faculty, department chairs, advisors, and curriculum leader, as well as K–12 educators, instructional coaches, and administrators.

Throughout Fall 2025, additional regional convenings were held at Southeast New Mexico College, New Mexico Junior College, and Doña Ana Community College. These sessions expanded and enhanced dialogue between K–12 and higher education, creating shared understanding and alignment around the updated graduation requirements and the re-envisioned high school math pathways.

Together, these convenings represent an important step in New Mexico’s commitment to coordinated, student-centered transitions from high school to college and career pathways, ensuring all learners are supported by a coherent and modernized math experience.

The Math and Science Bureau continued to expand opportunities for innovative, high-quality mathematics learning through participation in the Integrated Statistics and Quantitative Reasoning (ISQR) Early Exploration Project. This national initiative—supported by the Charles A. Dana Center and WestEd, supports states and districts in designing advanced high school math courses that align with modern postsecondary and workforce demands.

Three New Mexico districts: Albuquerque, Farmington, and Raton, committed to joining this multi-year effort to develop and pilot a new math course option focused on integrated applications of statistics, data analysis, and quantitative reasoning. The ISQR course will be designed to promote deeper understanding of mathematical concepts while equipping students with practical analytical and problem-solving skills relevant to real-world contexts.

In June 2025, district teams participated in a two-day national kickoff convening hosted at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation offices in Seattle, Washington, where they began the collaborative design process alongside national experts and partner states. Throughout SY2025–26, these districts will continue course development in partnership with the Dana Center and WestEd, with a pilot launch planned for SY2027–28.

This early exploration represents New Mexico’s proactive approach to broadening advanced math opportunities and ensuring that high school students can access pathways that connect mathematical learning with data literacy, reasoning, and critical thinking essential for college and career success.

In partnership with New Mexico State University – Mathematically Connected Communities (NMSU–MC²), the Math and Science Bureau continued advancing the NUMeROS (Numeracy Unlocks Math Rigor in Our Students) initiative. This micro-credential program is designed to strengthen mathematics content knowledge and pedagogical practice for K–5 teachers across New Mexico.

Initially piloted in 2024, NUMeROS was created to help elementary educators build deep conceptual understanding and mathematical reasoning in students, aligned to the major work of each grade level.

The NUMeROS learning pathway features a series of micro-credentials organized into two grade-level tracks:

• K–2 Math Foundations Pathway
• 3–5 Math Foundations Pathway

Each course consists of four to five modules, combining three-hour online facilitated sessions, asynchronous study, and classroom application. Participants implement new strategies directly in their classrooms, collect and analyze student work, and engage in collaborative reflection with peers and facilitators. This job-embedded, continuous learning model ensures that

The Building Science Leaders Network (BSLN) continues to strengthen science leadership across New Mexico by cultivating capacity for equitable, high-quality science teaching and learning grounded in the NM STEM Ready! Science Standards. The network is designed to build and sustain local leadership in science education, the network provides participating district and charter school teams with a comprehensive system of professional learning, mentorship, and collaboration.

Through the BSLN, participants engage in a cyclical professional learning model—first as learners themselves, then as facilitators who bring new learning back to their districts and schools. This approach supports science leaders in designing, implementing, and refining professional learning that directly impacts classroom instruction. Participants gather evidence of impact, analyze data, and adjust strategies to best serve their local contexts.

The BSLN aligns intentionally with district NM DASH plans and the PED Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Success, reinforcing systemic strategies that drive K–12 vertical alignment in science teaching and learning. It serves as a foundational support system where leaders collaborate to address shared challenges, evaluate student outcomes, and strengthen science instruction statewide.

Cohort 1 – Year 2 Focus

Cohort 1, now in its second year, is building upon foundational learning from its initial sequence. The focus this year is on incorporating high-leverage instructional practices into strategic planning and professional learning systems that improve science teaching and learning.

Through a series of three professional learning sessions, Cohort 1 teams are:

• Utilizing and maximizing the newly adopted science HQIM to deepen classroom instruction.
• Developing PLC structures centered around three-dimensional (3D) instructional shifts.
• Customizing observation and feedback tools to strengthen support for teachers implementing HQIM.

These learning series emphasize the analysis of student artifacts, science notebooks, and classroom discourse as key indicators of students’ three-dimensional sense-making. Participants use observation tools and rubrics to provide actionable feedback and to align instructional practices with the vision of NM STEM Ready! Science Standards.

Educators participate in collaborative work with BSLN

National recognition of this work continues to grow, including publications from WestEd “Centering Students in Science Learning: A Professional Learning Success Story,” which highlight New Mexico’s leadership in advancing high-quality, standards-aligned science education.

The New Mexico Science Vision establishes a shared statewide commitment to ensuring that every student in New Mexico experiences inclusive, relevant, and rigorous science learning that cultivates curiosity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. It positions science as both a lens for understanding the world and a pathway for empowering students to apply their knowledge in meaningful, real-world contexts.

From May through November 2024, the Public Education Department convened a diverse group of science community members representing K–12 education, postsecondary institutions, workforce sectors, informal education organizations, and national laboratories to collaboratively develop this vision. Through this months-long engagement process, stakeholders co-created a comprehensive statement that reflects New Mexico’s cultural and linguistic richness and serves as a roadmap for advancing equitable and coherent science education statewide.

The finalized Science Vision guides future policy, curriculum, and professional learning initiatives across the state.

Key elements of the vision include:

• Cultivating a Diverse, Empowered Community of Learners: Building students’ critical thinking skills, engaging them in authentic phenomena, and equipping them to address practical and global challenges through scientific inquiry.
• Increasing Access to Three-Dimensional Learning: Advancing instructional practices that integrate disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts to deepen understanding and relevance.
• Connecting Science to Students’ Lives and Communities: Ensuring that science learning is meaningful, contextualized, and reflective of New Mexico’s diverse cultures and environments.
• Embedding Transformative, Visionary, and Sustaining Practices: Promoting continuous improvement and use of high-quality, equitable resources aligned with the vision’s principles.

This work marks the beginning of a statewide effort to bring greater coherence and alignment to science education in New Mexico. The next phase will focus on developing a New Mexico Science Framework, which will operationalize this vision and support schools, districts, and partners in creating strong, aligned, and equitable K–12 science programs that prepare all students for college, career, and civic success.

The New Mexico OpenSciEd Field Test represents a key effort to expand access to high-quality, open-source instructional materials (HQIM) in science aligned to the NM STEM Ready! Science Standards. Over the past two years, New Mexico has served as a field test site for the OpenSciEd Elementary (K–5) curriculum, helping refine and validate materials that will ultimately be made freely available to educators nationwide.

The field test concluded in May 2025 after extensive collaboration between the Math and Science Bureau, educators, and instructional coaches across the state. A total of 85 teachers and six instructional coaches participated, completing job-embedded professional learning and virtual PLCs for each of the four elementary units.

Through this collaborative process, educators engaged deeply in phenomena-based instruction, formative assessment, and sense-making practices that embody three-dimensional learning.

At the national level, the OpenSciEd High School curriculum recently received “All Green” ratings from EdReports, the highest designation for quality and alignment. This recognition reflects the contributions of New Mexico teachers and students, whose participation in field testing and refinement helped ensure that the curriculum is both rigorous and responsive to classroom realities.

The completion of the OpenSciEd Field Test underscores New Mexico’s leadership in developing and implementing HQIM and its continued commitment to supporting teacher capacity and instructional excellence in science education statewide.

The Outdoor Learning Start-Up Grant continues to drive innovation and expand equitable access to outdoor and environmental education across New Mexico. Designed to help schools develop and sustain outdoor learning programs, the grant supports educators in integrating place-based, culturally sustaining, and interdisciplinary learning that connects students with their communities and environments.

Up to $225,000 in competitive grant funding was made available to New Mexico PreK–12 public school districts, state-chartered charter schools, regional cooperatives, and school-community partnerships. Applicants could request up to $30,000 per project to:

• Provide all students with equitable access to outdoor learning environments to interact, explore, and discover.
• Integrate culturally sustaining, social-emotional, interdisciplinary, and environmental education aligned with content standards.
• Foster environmental literacy and systems thinking.
• Connect local, regional, national, and global systems for a sustainable future.

Nine schools received the 2024–2025 Grant Award:

• Hozho Academy
• Gordon Bernell Charter School
• Nye Early Childhood Center
• Mesa Elementary School
• Rita Marquez Elementary School
• Robert F. Kennedy Middle and High School
• Santa Rosa High School
• Tularosa Elementary School
• Vista Grande High School

Grantee schools participated in eight Communities of Practice (CoP) sessions throughout the year, designed to build systematic support for outdoor learning through collaboration with state agencies, nonprofit partners, and community organizations.

To ensure responsiveness to grantee needs, the Outdoor Learning Team conducted a needs assessment survey at the beginning of the cycle, using the results to curate targeted professional learning opportunities. Highlights from the CoP guest expert series included:

• January: Jade Berrill, Outdoor Learning School (Canada) – Practical outdoor teaching strategies aligned to local contexts.
• February: Dr. Ruth Wilson, author of Naturally Inclusive – Approaches for engaging children of all abilities in outdoor learning.
• March: Monie Corona, NM educator – Intersections of culturally responsive teaching, place-based education, and student identity.
• April: End-of-year reporting support session with templates, feedback, and individualized guidance.

The Outdoor Learning Team continues its impactful collaboration with Learning in Places, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded initiative that brings together researchers, educators, and community leaders across multiple states to advance place-based and culturally sustaining outdoor learning.

Learning in Places is a multi-state partnership led by Northwestern University and the University of Washington (Bothell), alongside educators and community partners in Washington, Colorado, Michigan, Louisiana, Oregon, Illinois, and New Mexico. The project focuses on connecting science, literacy, and social-emotional learning through outdoor and environmental education that honors the diverse cultural and ecological contexts in which students live and learn.

2024–2025 School Year

During the 2024–2025 school year, the Outdoor Learning (ODL) Team partnered with Learning in Places to provide stipends and professional learning to approximately eight New Mexico teachers who implemented place-based outdoor learning within their classrooms.

Educators engaged in virtual professional learning sessions, classroom-based projects, and networked collaboration with colleagues across the country. The ODL Team also participated in the Winter Summit in February 2025, deepening cross-state partnerships and sharing New Mexico’s work in outdoor learning and culturally responsive education.

The Math and Science Bureau (MSB) continues to strengthen cross-agency collaboration to support coherent statewide efforts that improve academic achievement, student well-being, and instructional quality. Through strategic partnerships with sister and partner bureaus, MSB staff contribute expertise, align initiatives, and help advance shared goals across the Public Education Department.

Supporting Safe and Healthy Schools Through Outdoor Learning

The Outdoor Learning Team continued its partnership with the Safe and Healthy Schools Bureau to integrate durable skills, including communication, collaboration, perseverance, and emotional regulation, into outdoor learning environments. This collaboration supports the creation of school ecosystems that promote well-being, resilience, and academic success. By embedding durable skills into outdoor learning programming, the partnership reinforces safe, supportive, and engaging learning environments for students across the state.

Community Schools

Kristy Reale is meeting with Community Schools representatives to establish a partnership between the Outdoor Learning Initiative and the Community Schools model, expanding opportunities for students, families, and communities to engage in meaningful outdoor learning experiences.

Instructional Materials Bureau

The Math and Science Bureau continued to support the Instructional Materials Bureau through multiple collaborative efforts aimed at strengthening the implementation of high-quality instructional materials across the state. Lisa served as a reviewer for the High-Quality Professional Learning (HQPL) Marketplace for K–12 Science, helping to identify professional learning providers equipped to support districts with the orientation and ongoing implementation of newly adopted science HQIM. Her contributions ensure that districts have access to professional learning aligned with state expectations for effective and coherent science instruction.

Student Support Services

Trish Gharrity represents the MSB on the Family Engagement Team, which focuses on building statewide strategies to strengthen family–school partnerships. This work emphasizes culturally and linguistically responsive approaches to engaging families as active partners in their children’s learning and school communities.

Collaboration on the NM STEM Innovation Network

As part of the planning and design of the NM STEM Innovation Network, Shafiq Chaudhary collaborated with the Indian Education Division and the Community Schools team to ensure the initiative reflects diverse perspectives and community needs. This partnership helps elevate Indigenous knowledge systems, community partnerships, and culturally sustaining practices within the statewide STEM strategy.

Kristy and Lisa represented the MSB and PED by participating during the New Mexico Public Education Department STEM Day at the Legislature on January 30, 2025.