College & Career High School Posts Highest Graduation Rate for APS

On Monday, the Albuquerque Public Schools released their graduation rates for 2019 and sitting at the top was the College & Career High School (CCHS) with a 98.5% grad rate, according to data from the New Mexico Public Education Department. That’s a 1.4 percent increase from 2018, when CCHS also led the graduation rate.

CCHS, which is operated through a partnership between APS and CNM, opened in August 2013 on CNM’s Main Campus.

Overall, APS’s total graduation rate increased by half of a percentage point in 2019 and the district has increased its rate by more than eight percentage points in four years. 

The College & Career High School (CCHS), which is located in the new Education Collaborative Building on the south end of CNM’s Main Campus, allows high school freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors to take CNM dual-credit classes that count for both high school and college credit. While working toward their high school diploma, the students also earn college credits toward a certificate, associate degree or bachelor’s degree. And tuition and textbooks are free to CCHS students.

CCHS students typically spend half of their day taking APS classes and the other half taking CNM dual-credit classes. The school had 275 students for the 2019 school year.

Last year, 36 of the graduating CCHS students received at least one certificate or degree from CNM, 26 earned more than one CNM certificate or degree, and seven graduated with five or more certificates or degrees.

In the New Mexico Public Education Department’s 2018 school grading report, CCHS scored second highest among all public high schools in the state, and third highest in the state among all high schools including charters.

For more information about CCHS, visit http://collegecareerhigh.aps.edu/.