The top reported proficiency rate is 62% in English language arts. The lowest is 30% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on 21st Century Public Academy
21st Century Public Academy is a charter school in northeast Albuquerque serving first through eighth grade. As a charter, it operates as its own district, which gives it autonomy from the larger Albuquerque Public Schools system while still participating in the state's annual assessments. The school sits on Cutler Avenue in the 87110 zip code, a central Albuquerque area with housing values roughly in line with the state benchmark and rents that come in below the national level. The immediate neighborhood is part of a sprawling, car-oriented city where walkable street life clusters in specific nodes rather than spread evenly across the landscape.
Academically, the most recent state assessment results paint a split picture. In English language arts, a clear majority of tested students in grades three through eight reached proficiency, a result that stands out as a strength and suggests the school is doing something right with literacy instruction. Science proficiency landed in the middle range, with nearly half of tested students meeting the bar. Math was the weaker subject, with fewer than a third of students demonstrating proficiency. A parent considering this school may want to look into how the school approaches math instruction and what supports are available for students who enter below grade level. Only one year of assessment data was available, so there is no trend line to show whether these results are improving, holding steady, or in flux.
The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. That gap reflects the grade band, not a missing measure.
Enrollment is modest for a school covering eight grade levels, and the distribution skews toward the upper grades. Sixth, seventh, and eighth grades each hold the largest share of students, while the early elementary grades are much smaller. This suggests that families may join the school at later grades rather than entering in first grade, though the data does not say so directly. The student body is predominantly white, with small representations of Black, Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Asian students. About half the student population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a mix of income levels rather than a uniformly affluent or uniformly low-income enrollment. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not reported, so the picture of how the school serves those populations is incomplete.
Albuquerque itself is New Mexico's largest city, a place shaped by federal installations, a major university, and a growing film and media sector. The school's location on the northeast side places it in a quadrant known for residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors. The city has been roughly flat in population, with a slight decline in recent estimates, and development activity has focused on affordable housing initiatives and expansion of the media sector. Major employers include Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base, the University of New Mexico, and Presbyterian Healthcare Services. The Rio Grande bosque runs through the city center, and the Sandia Mountains frame the eastern edge.
No program offerings were listed in the data, so a parent would need to contact the school directly to learn about extracurriculars, electives, or specialized academic tracks. The same applies to discipline data, course access, staffing ratios, and attendance figures, none of which were available. A search for recent district-level changes turned up little of lasting impact.
What the available data shows is a small charter school with a genuine strength in literacy, a middling science result, and a math proficiency level that warrants attention. The enrollment is mixed in income and includes a broad if not balanced range of racial and ethnic backgrounds. For a family in central-to-northeast Albuquerque looking for a charter alternative for elementary and middle grades, this school offers a compact environment with eight consecutive grades under one roof. The literacy results are the clearest signal of academic quality here. The math results are the clearest question mark.
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