ACADEMICS
Departments

The Curriculum

The academic program at Albuquerque Academy is at the heart of our school, and the school’s mission is lived out daily in the wide array of rich learning experiences we offer students. Whether they are participating in Model UN, coding in AP Statistics, contrasting the philosophies of Zen Buddhism with those of Western thinkers, or critiquing a portfolio of self-portraits, we aim to nurture children’s natural passion for learning and to instill habits of lifelong curiosity and reflection. Our approach to teaching, to student leadership, to community service, and to the many other aspects of school life reflects our hope that we will model and instill in students our most deeply held values of kindness, empathy, creativity, inclusion, justice, lifelong learning, and connection to the natural world and to the Southwest. We believe that a liberal arts education is vital to becoming a global citizen in a world where future jobs have not yet been fully imagined, and we believe our students graduate from the Academy knowing how to think; how to understand their own worldview and those of others; how to find and then evaluate information; how to construct and analyze an argument; and how to communicate clearly, authentically, and diplomatically. We also believe that they leave our school with an internalized sense of the Academy’s mission – that it is their privilege and responsibility to serve country and community with wisdom, conviction, and compassion.

Computer Science

Albuquerque Academy’s computer science department fosters student learning that centers on computational thinking. Our curriculum emphasizes project-based learning, ensuring both a theoretical grounding in key concepts and the application of that understanding in practical, real-world scenarios. We aim to equip our students with industry-relevant skills that are in demand in the ever-evolving tech landscape. Education cannot happen without diversity and inclusion, and our department strives to empower all students to express their unique perspectives in a joyful and welcoming classroom environment. Our department strives to be a place where students from all backgrounds are welcomed, supported, and encouraged to express their unique perspectives in a digital world. We seek to prepare students not simply as competent professionals, but as innovative and thoughtful learners, ready to contribute positively to the tech industry and society at large.

Counseling & Human Development

Albuquerque Academy is committed to social-emotional learning using a framework from a program called RULER – recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing, and regulating – developed by Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence. The program builds a common language among faculty, students, and families to express emotions in healthy ways and achieve greater lifelong success in relationships and careers.

Our counselors are licensed, experienced professionals who also provide short-term, one-on-one counseling sessions for students. We support families in a variety of ways tailored to the individual circumstances and to the developmental needs of their students.

Counselors are a regular part of each student’s school experience in a variety of ways. They offer opportunities for students to connect and learn from one another, such as through yoga and social skills groups and by facilitating the Social Emotional Learning Club (grades 6-7) and the Student Wellness Advisory Board (grades 8-12). These student leaders organize activities and trainings designed to enhance mental health awareness and offer tools to support well-being.

In addition, students in grades six, seven, eight, and ten attend classes taught by one of our counselors. Sixth and seventh graders learn about emotional intelligence, identifying their emotions, and tools for emotional regulation. Our eighth and tenth graders build on these skills. They are encouraged to cultivate greater self-awareness in their relational and emotional well-being and learn how to take agency over their own personal care.

English

In the English department, we offer literature as a window on the world and a mirror for discovery and self-knowledge. Through thoughtful exploration of texts from many corners of culture, time, and human experience, our students learn to communicate and interact as they define themselves in relation to the world around them. Reading literature helps all of us develop empathy, shy away from reductive thinking, and embrace complexity. It also turns us into careful and patient listeners, learning to notice both what is said and what is not said. Through metaphor, analogy, analysis, and argument, we come to richer understandings that enlarge us.

In this same spirit of discovery, writing offers our students the opportunity to realize and subsequently clarify what they know and believe. Our writing process emerges from the questions we encounter in literature and in life and emphasizes a willingness to engage in contemplation, invest in revision, and practice open-mindedness in the face of other viewpoints. Students experiment, revise, review, and refine until they can communicate their own perspectives with clarity, style, and sincerity. The goal is not only to foster clear, compelling arguments in their written work but also to empower them to tell their own stories with courage and insight.

Experiential Education

Experiential education is best defined as learning by doing with reflection. Long known as “Ex Ed,” experiential education at Albuquerque Academy includes programming in outdoor, environmental, and wilderness education, as well as leadership development. The program has been a unique feature of the Academy since 1975. At the program’s inception, then-Headmaster Ashby Harper wrote, “The program is based on the conviction that students can learn in a rugged wilderness environment some of the important values which cannot be learned in the classroom.” As the program has evolved, the Academy has steadfastly maintained that conviction.

Ex Ed is mandatory for students in grades 6-9 and takes place on Academy lands and wilderness areas throughout New Mexico and the Four Corners region, and all new 10-12 students participate in an overnight camping trip in Bear Canyon preceding the start of the school year. Classroom and field-based leadership and technical-skills courses are optional for students in grades 10-12. All 10-12 electives are paired with one or two mandatory trips. Seniors finish their time at the Academy with the senior projects program, an experiential capstone during the last month of school. One option for senior projects is the Ex Ed seminar.

The experiential education department also supports experiential co-curricular trips with visual arts, science, and the world languages exchange program, and it offers NOLS Wilderness Medicine Courses.

History

Sixth and seventh graders at Albuquerque Academy will engage in a two-year American Studies program. In it, they will use various source types from primary sources, maps, music, art, and poetry to study civics, geography, the history of New Mexico, and how those fit in broader American history from the pre-Columbian era to the present. Guided by teachers who help them decode and connect evidence to their personal lives, students will travel through eras in American history by completing hands-on, active learning experiences and gain regular practice in close reading, reflective and analytical writing, and the sharing of ideas with classmates. Eighth- and ninth-grade students engage in a two-year look at world history from the ancient era to the mid-1900s. They will continue to build upon skills they established in the 6-7 division, including research, critical thinking, and close reading. Tenth-grade students engage in a deeper look into the history of the United States, and upperclassmen have a plethora of elective offerings, from the study of Indigenous history, world religions, and economics to AP courses.

After a full course of study in history, Albuquerque Academy graduates will be able to produce polished, clear, organized, evidence-based, analytical, and logically reasoned writing; distinguish fact from opinion and engage in informed, respectful discussion; show mastery of a robust set of research skills; read closely to understand, analyze, and interpret arguments as well as a variety of primary and secondary sources; and, finally, understand the connection between historical events and the present. They can use what they have learned to make informed decisions, participate in their community, and act wisely in the world.

Mathematics

Math classes at Albuquerque Academy progress thoughtfully from Math 6: Mathematical Reasoning through calculus. Enthusiastic teachers strive to prepare students to be critical thinkers and versatile problem solvers who are able to apply their analytical skills to all disciplines. Along the way, we appreciate and enjoy the beauty of mathematics.

Because students come to the Academy with varying skills, we place them in classes where they can thrive. In classes at all levels, students are asked to engage deeply with the concepts and are given the tools to address challenging questions. Students learn the reasoning behind the concepts, not just a series of steps; by the time they graduate, they appreciate the importance of understanding the “why” as well as the “how.”

Our teachers employ a variety of styles, from traditional to inquiry-based; they are articulate, caring, approachable, and passionate about mathematics. Students collaborate regularly, giving them opportunities to articulate their understanding of the concepts. To engage students, applications in science, economics, and medicine are woven into the curriculum.

Most students graduate having taken AP Calculus or AP Statistics. Beyond the traditional mathematics curriculum, we also offer college-level courses in Advanced Logic and Probability and Advanced Multivariable Calculus, and many students pursue their interests through math-related clubs and competitions offered at the school.

By holding students to a high standard of rigor, we graduate resilient students who are able to take intellectual risks; their foundation in analytical reasoning and synthesis can be applied to any discipline. Our graduates report back that they were exceptionally well prepared for college – every year they earn advanced standing in math at some of the best colleges, universities, and service academies in the country.

Performing Arts

Ever wonder what you might do if given a moment on stage?

From the beginning of their time at the Academy, every student has the opportunity to dance, play an instrument, and create a theatrical experience. Every sixth-grade student takes a drama class developing the skills to tell stories, ultimately writing their own plays. Additionally, students choose a performing group with which they either learn or continue existing studies in dance, guitar, chorus, band, or string orchestra, with each discipline presenting at evening performances.

Advanced performance groups – band, orchestra, and chorus; our Honor Guitar Quartet; and the thespian and dance troupes – participate in regional and national festivals and competitions, allowing them to showcase their talents beyond our own stages and receive feedback from noted professionals.

Through a variety of electives and extracurriculars, students have the opportunity to pursue their interests in traditional and uncommon studies like modern and world dance, the 6-7 Opera Project, Steel Drum Band, Mariachi Band, and focused choral groups. Our largest theatre extracurricular, the spring musical, serves as a vehicle for students of all grades and performing arts, vocal, instrumental, dance, and technical theatre to collaboratively share their many talents.

No matter which performing arts our students choose, they gain more than skill development – our courses and activities stress individual growth, collaborative learning, and an understanding of performance as part of a shared world experience. Through the three disciplines – dance, music, and theatre – students learn that art is an expression of peoples and cultures.

Our performing arts groups are a great source of pride for our student performers as well as our faculty and the wider school community. All are welcome to attend the dozens of performances presented each year.

Physical Education

The physical education department promotes joy of effort in all physical activities. With an emphasis on skill development, team and individual sports, and personal physical fitness as well as mental, social, and emotional development, we aim to create lifelong healthy habits.

The sixth-grade program focuses on the development of basic skills like throwing and catching, while seventh graders focus on honing sport-specific skills for Academy interscholastic teams. Beginning in eighth grade, students create physical fitness goals around dynamic stretching, cardio, and calisthenics. With this base, starting in 10th grade, students can select one of several PE options: weight training, yoga, T’ai Chi Chih, dance, or experiential education classes.

Science

The Academy science curriculum is designed to prepare students to be informed citizens in a world dependent on science and technology – Academy graduates are prepared to ask critical questions, analyze data, and draw conclusions based on sound evidence.

Our science students develop their problem-solving abilities and observational and analytical skills in the laboratory. Their experiences in physical science, life science, and earth science provide opportunities to pose questions about the environment in which they live and think critically about solutions to real-world challenges.

Students are immersed in the process of scientific inquiry, whether they are taking a required life science course, Introduction to Forensic Science, or the Advanced Principles of Engineering elective. Sixth graders build cloud chambers to investigate temperature and pressure differentials, and eighth graders build egg parachutes, conduct test flights, and then improve their parachute design to minimize impact. There is hands-on learning in every course – measuring plant growth in biology, modeling plate tectonics with cake and brownies, and identifying an unknown compound in the chemistry lab.

Department highlights include the Academy’s new state-of-the-art Fly Lab, which offers students the opportunity to participate in authentic scientific research; the Desert Oasis Teaching Garden, an on-campus experiential learning garden that allows students to understand and problem-solve around issues of soil health, water conservation, and climate adaptability in the desert Southwest; a teaching kitchen where students explore the science of cooking using produce from the garden; and Physics Day, when students taking AP Physics C visit the sixth grade to present dozens of demonstrations about pressure, rotation, electricity, inertia, and more.

Visual Arts

The visual arts program at Albuquerque Academy is grounded in the belief that art is an intellectual as well as a creative process and that the skills of art-making are teachable to anyone. Every student can be successful when taught the language and skills of art-making in a logical, sequential manner.

Our curriculum stresses perception and drawing, design concepts, problem-solving, persistence, and craft. We actively encourage inventiveness and informed risk-taking. The critique process is central to our teaching; within a climate of mutual trust and respect, it provides a forum in which concepts are reinforced, ideas are tested, and originality is celebrated. Our work in the studio draws inspiration both from global cultures and from the nature and traditions of the Southwest. While we cultivate the vision of the individual, we also honor the commonality of human expression.

A visual arts education encourages students to see complex problems from multiple perspectives. It also trains them to seek and expect multiple solutions. We prepare students to graduate with strong critical skills and developed aesthetic judgment. They emerge from the program with the ability to produce conceptually sophisticated work and the capacity to articulate their ideas with clarity. We expect that our students will go forth with the ability to use images and objects to communicate both the practical and the poetic.

World Languages

Charlemagne said, “To have another language is to possess a second soul.” It is this sentiment that informs the world languages program at Albuquerque Academy. Language transforms the human experience – from the constantly evolving process of learning about one’s own culture to the challenge and wonder of experiencing another. This process is rooted in communication, and, through it, students learn to broaden their appreciation of life through the beauty of art, culture, and literature. Additionally, students learn to become responsible global citizens, expanding their worldview throughout their lives; they learn to recognize the practical value of learning another language to enhance personal and professional opportunities.

All students in grades 6-7 study Spanish in a program that includes not only the language but also the unique culture of the American Southwest. In eighth grade, a student may continue with Spanish, begin French, or sign up for the global language rotation (Chinese, German, or Japanese) beginning that year.

The department strives to teach students proficiency in a language by their junior or senior year. Academy students can further their proficiency in a language, as well as knowledge of its people by visiting the countries where the language is spoken. Through the Global Languages Exchange Program, students have the opportunity to spend two weeks living with a host family and attending classes at our sister schools in Ecuador, France, Germany, and Japan.