Clovis' Bella Vista school picks up statewide award

The New Mexico Public Education Department highlighted eight schools across the state that have exceeded expectations for literacy education. One of the eight schools named for being a structured model literacy school was the Clovis Municipal Schools’ Arts Academy at Bella Vista.

Each of the schools had to go through a competitive grant application, where the Model Schools were then thoroughly analyzed by the Public Education Department Literacy and Humanities Bureau in May. State administrators were able to appoint these schools based on their evidence-based literacy education in the classroom.

The eight model schools:

• Arts Academy at Bella Vista - Clovis Municipal Schools

• Mountain Mahogany Community School - Albuquerque Public Schools - Charter

• The International School at Mesa de Sol - Albuquerque Public Schools - Charter

• Whittier Elementary School - Albuquerque Public Schools

• Bell Elementary School - Deming Public Schools

• Vado Elementary School - Gadsden Independent School District

• Los Niños Elementary School - Las Vegas City Schools

• Truth or Consequences Elementary School and Sierra Elementary Complex - Truth or Consequences Municipal Schools

The Public Education Department will provide each school with $50,000 in state funding, according to their website. In addition to the Model Schools, 64 schools were selected to be structured literacy support schools; they will receive $40,000 in state funding.

According to the PED website, about $21.5 million will be dedicated to the next academic year. The department’s goal is to provide literacy professional learning for teachers and research-based Science of Reading instruction.