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New Mexico, United States

Coding and AI classes in New Mexico

Is computer science required to graduate in New Mexico?

No single computer science credit is required. Under HB171, for students entering high school in 2025 to 2026, New Mexico high schools must offer computer science as an elective within a two-unit pathway, and the state now teaches to the 2026 CSTA PK-12 standards. Modern Age Coders runs live online classes for New Mexico students, from computational thinking in third grade to AP Computer Science Principles.

New Mexico has taken the long road with computer science: a task force in 2019, a five-year strategic plan in 2021, and now a graduation law, HB171, that names computer science as an elective every high school must offer, starting with the class of 2029. In the same period the Public Education Department switched its standards to the newest national set, the 2026 CSTA PK-12 standards, which give artificial intelligence and data literacy a larger place. This page explains each of those pieces from the department’s own documents, shows how access has grown from under a quarter of high schools to more than half, and describes how our live online classes reach a student in Las Cruces, Gallup or Taos as easily as one in Albuquerque.

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Facts last verified 18 October 2026. Teaching is online; no New Mexico branch is claimed.

Course picks for New Mexico

Four courses New Mexico families start with

Picked by grade and interest; the teacher confirms the right level during the free first lesson.

Problem Solving and Computational Thinking for Kids course thumbnail
Grades 3 to 6

Problem Solving and Computational Thinking for Kids

Patterns, decomposition and step-by-step logic, the foundations the CSTA standards build on in elementary school.

See the syllabus
 AI Literacy for Kids (Ages 8 to 14) course thumbnail
Ages 8 to 14

AI Literacy for Kids (Ages 8 to 14)

How AI systems learn from data and where they go wrong, matching the new weight on AI in the 2026 standards.

See the syllabus
 Python for Teens course thumbnail
Grades 7 to 12

Python for Teens

Real typed code and data work, including the Albuquerque bikeway decoding project described below.

See the syllabus
 AP Computer Science Principles course thumbnail
Grades 10 to 12

AP Computer Science Principles

AP CSP, the Create performance task and the exam, a strong fit for an HB171 elective pathway.

See the syllabus

Browse the course atlas for more than one hundred options and use the coding roadmap to check prerequisites.

The four we are known for

Python, AI, vibe coding and agentic coding

These run underneath everything above. Every one is live and online, placed by ability rather than by age, and the first class is free.

Vibe Coding for Teens course thumbnail
Vibe codingAges 13 to 17

Vibe Coding for Teens

Python, web and AI projects where the learner still owns the thinking.

See the syllabus
 Python Automation Course course thumbnail
Python and AICollege and adult

Python Automation Course

Automate the work you already do, then let AI carry part of it.

See the syllabus
 AI and Machine Learning for Teens course thumbnail
AI and MLAges 14 to 18

AI and Machine Learning for Teens

Train a model, read what it learned, and be able to say why it is wrong.

See the syllabus
 Codex & Claude Code course thumbnail
Agentic codingProfessionals

Codex & Claude Code

Run AI coding agents on real work without losing control of the codebase.

See the syllabus
HB171 and graduation

Where computer science sits in New Mexico’s graduation rules

From the PED’s HB171 Graduation Manual (April 2026) and the cohort 2029 flyer, read in October 2026.

New Mexico graduation requirements beginning with cohort 2029, as PED summarizes them
ItemWhat PED says
Who it coversCohort 2029, the students entering high school in SY 2025-26
Total24 units, including 4 in English, 4 in math, 3 in science and 4 in social studies
Electives5.5 elective units that must include a two-unit pathway concentration of the student’s choice
Computer scienceFinancial literacy and computer science shall be offered as electives
What must be offeredThe flyer states: Algebra 2, Financial Literacy, and Computer Science shall be offered.
Algebra 2Removal of Algebra 2 as a requirement, although it must still be offered as a math course
Local unitsTwo units set by each local school board or governing body

Offered, not required

HB171 guarantees that a New Mexico high schooler can find computer science on the timetable. It does not make every student take it, so taking it is a choice families make.

A pathway, not a one-off

Because electives must include a two-unit concentration, a student who chooses computer science can build two connected units, for example an introduction followed by AP Computer Science Principles.

Earlier cohorts

Students in cohorts 2025 to 2028 follow the earlier requirements listed on the PED graduation page; the HB171 changes start with those who entered ninth grade in 2025 to 2026.

The idea is older than the law. The PED’s computer science strategic plan lists a goal to allow CS to satisfy a core graduation requirement dated April 2018, and a goal for all high schools to offer CS courses between August 2021 and August 2023. HB171 now writes the offering into the graduation rules themselves.

Standards and the plan

New Mexico now teaches to the 2026 CSTA standards

The PED Math and Science Bureau says New Mexico’s computer science instruction draws directly from the CSTA PK-12 Computer Science Standards (2026).

Milestones in New Mexico computer science policy, from PED documents
WhenMilestoneSource
December 2018Date given in the plan for the goal to adopt CS standardsPED Computer Science Strategic Plan
Fall 2019A computer science task force brought together to shape a state visionStrategic Plan introduction
June 2021Strategic plan completed, a five-year plan of actionsStrategic Plan introduction
2025 to 2026First HB171 cohort enters high school with CS as a required offeringHB171 Graduation Manual
2026Instruction based on the CSTA PK-12 standards (2026), listed among adopted standardsPED Computer Science and Adopted Content Standards pages

AI moves to the front

The bureau says the 2026 standards reflect current shifts in the field, including the growing role of artificial intelligence and data literacy, with grade-level expectations from pre-K to twelfth grade.

Three ways to teach it

Schools may deliver computer science through standalone courses, integrated instruction, or career and technical education pathways, depending on local context and student needs.

A stated promise

The plan’s vision statement reads: New Mexico guarantees a K-12 computer science education to ALL students. The bureau adds that access should hold regardless of location or background.

Teachers are part of the plan

The strategic plan sets a goal of 30 individuals enrolled in a CS teacher preparation program and the PED offers a self-paced course, Computer Science Education for All. Growing the number of qualified teachers is how a state with many small, remote schools makes an offered course real.

Access figures

Just over half of New Mexico high schools offer computer science

Six school years of New Mexico access data, then participation and AP counts, each quoted exactly.

New Mexico access trend: percent of public high schools with a CS course (Code.org, 2025)
YearPercent offering CS
2018 to 201923%
2019 to 202032%
2020 to 202144%
2021 to 202241%
2022 to 202350%
2023 to 202453.6%, or 126 of 235 high schools
Participation and AP in New Mexico
MeasureNew MexicoWhere it comes from
Students enrolled in a high school CS course3,335 of 101,654, or 3.28%Code.org (2025), most recent participation tab
Yearly participation rate2.5%, 3.0%, then 3.3% for 2022 to 2023Code.org (2025), participation series
AP schools, 2023122College Board AP report by state
AP schools, 2024119College Board AP report by state

Access more than doubled in five years, yet roughly one student in thirty was enrolled in a computer science course in the latest participation count. The College Board figures also dipped slightly, from 122 schools with AP exams to 119. HB171’s required offering is aimed at the first gap; families who want depth now, rather than when their school’s course arrives, are the students our classes serve.

How to cite these figures

Code.org (2025). 2025 State of AI + CS Education. We quote single New Mexico values from its data sheet, which names the state education agency as the access source and NCES Fall 2022 as the student total; we do not republish the dataset.

Signature project

What does CABQ_PM mean? Decoding Albuquerque’s bikeway data

Albuquerque’s 2024 bikeway layer stores who maintains each segment as a short code. Students turn the codes into words with a Python dictionary, and discover what happens when the data uses a code the dictionary has never seen.

Maintainer codes in the Bikeways Existing in 2024 layer, decoded with the layer’s own domain (our counts, download of 18 October 2026)
Code in the dataLabel from the layer’s domainRecords
CABQ_SMCABQ Street Maintenance1,905
CABQ_PMNo label: not in the domain706
BERNCOBernalillo County315
HOAHomeowner’s Association275
NMDOTNew Mexico Dept. of Transportation169
(empty)No value recorded68
CABQ_OSCABQ Open Space34

1. Build the lookup

The layer’s metadata lists 12 maintainer codes with plain-English names. Students copy them into a dictionary, then replace each code in the 3,540 records with its label.

2. Meet the KeyError

The program crashes. Four codes in the data, CABQ_PM, Corrales, Los Ranchos and CABQ_Aviation, are missing from the domain, and between them they cover 726 records. Using dict.get() with a default keeps the program running and counts the unknowns.

3. Clean what is fixable

Jurisdiction names come in two spellings, CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE (3,010) and City Of Albuquerque (92). Converting to one case before counting merges them; surface values Gravel and UNK, also outside their domain, are flagged rather than guessed.

Our counts, the city’s data

All numbers in this section are ours, from one download of a static 2024 copy of the network. The City of Albuquerque provides the data as is, with no guarantee of completeness or accuracy, and we do not guess what an undocumented code such as CABQ_PM stands for.

Path types show the same idea from the other side: the domain lists 12 kinds of path, but only 10 appear in the data, with bike lanes the most common at 1,228 records. A lookup table tells you what could exist; only counting tells you what does. That distinction, between a schema and the records in it, is one of the most useful things a teenager can learn before working with any real database.

Class times

Mountain Time across New Mexico

One time zone for the whole state makes scheduling simple, with the twice-yearly clock change to keep in mind.

One zone

The IANA time zone database lists New Mexico under US mountain time, represented by America/Denver, from Farmington to Hobbs.

India and Mountain Time

India runs 11 hours 30 minutes ahead of Mountain Daylight Time and 12 hours 30 minutes ahead of Mountain Standard Time, and does not change its clocks.

Changeover dates

New Mexico falls back on November 1, 2026 and springs forward on March 14, 2027. Lesson times are always confirmed in Mountain Time.

Code that knows the calendar

Students who write a lesson reminder using the America/Denver zone, rather than a fixed seven-hour offset, find that their program is still right on the morning after November 1, 2026. It is a small taste of why real software leans on shared databases like IANA tzdb.

Learning ladder

From first logic puzzles to an HB171 pathway

Grades are a guide; the free lesson places each student.

Grades 3 to 5

Thinking in steps

Puzzles, patterns and block programs that build computational thinking before any typing.

Problem Solving and Computational Thinking for KidsScratch Coding for Kids
Grades 6 to 8

AI and first code

How AI learns from data, then Python games and small programs.

AI Literacy for Kids (Ages 8 to 14)Python and AI for Kids
Grades 9 to 10

A pathway with substance

Python and web development that make a two-unit elective pathway worth choosing.

Python for TeensFrontend Development for Teens
Grades 11 to 12

AP and machine learning

AP Computer Science Principles, then models trained and tested on real data.

AP Computer Science PrinciplesAI and Machine Learning for Teens
Coding and AI

New Mexico’s standards now put AI front and center. What should students learn?

How AI works, and how to check its output against the data.

Give an AI assistant the Albuquerque bikeway table and ask who maintains the most segments. It may answer confidently and invent a meaning for CABQ_PM, a code the city’s own metadata does not define. A student who has built the lookup knows the honest answer is that the label is unknown.

That habit of checking a claim against the data is what the 2026 CSTA standards mean by data literacy. Our classes teach students to build models and tools themselves first, so that AI later becomes a helper they can audit rather than an authority they trust blindly.

New Mexico promises computer science to every student; the most valuable part of that promise is learning to ask where an answer came from. The longer argument is in is coding still worth learning in 2026.

Delivery

From the Four Corners to the Bootheel, the same live lesson

New Mexico is the fifth-largest state by area, and many families live a long drive from any coding program.

Rural and small-town students

A student in Silver City, Clovis or Española joins the same live class as one in Rio Rancho, with no travel and no waiting list for a local club.

When it suits you

Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays.

Pathway-friendly

Teachers know US grade levels and can plan a sequence that complements a school computer science elective rather than repeating it.

Batch of peers

A batch of fifteen to twenty students working at the same level, drawn from New Mexico and other states.

Private option

One teacher and one student, for those aiming at AP Computer Science Principles or a project portfolio on their own timeline.

Honest work

We explain concepts and coach problem solving; school assignments and AP tasks remain entirely the student’s own.

Online only

Modern Age Coders has no center in New Mexico and claims none. All lessons are taught live from India over video, so a laptop or desktop, a headset and a dependable internet connection are enough.

Fees

Fees for New Mexico students

Free to start, then one of two monthly options.

First classUSD 0

One complete lesson at no charge, with a recommended level and course at the end.

Group tuitionUSD 100

Monthly lessons in a batch of fifteen to twenty students at the same stage.

Private tuitionUSD 150

Monthly lessons with a teacher working with one student only.

Fees are charged in US dollars at the same rate in Santa Fe as in Roswell. You pay nothing before the free lesson, and the pricing page explains how holidays and missed lessons are handled.

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Reviews

Google reviews from families and students

Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews. These are real reviews, reproduced as written.

★★★★★

"The one step solution for my son. Modern Age Coders make learning coding so simple that kids love it. The teachers explain complex concepts clearly with practical exercises and interactive content."

Ria Mukherjee

Parent

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts and coding before joining, but their classes transformed everything. I can now confidently write complex programs with ease."

Samriddha Mondal

Student

★★★★★

"One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development."

Vansh Agarwal

Student

★★★★★

"My child Dhairya is really enjoying the Modern Age Coders classes. This is his first online class and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can already see his improvement, and the teachers are very cooperative."

Sonam Oswal

Parent of Dhairya

★★★★★

"Modern Age Coders have wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. The teacher boosts students' confidence and inspires them to learn without hesitation."

Sonu Goyal

Parent

★★★★★

"I highly recommend this computer coding class! The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about coding."

Ritu Kedia

Parent

Free placement class

Request a free lesson for a New Mexico student

Share the grade and the goal. A fourth grader might start with a logic puzzle game, an eighth grader with an AI literacy activity, and a high schooler with the Albuquerque bikeway decoding task.

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FAQ

New Mexico coding and AI questions

Answers based on New Mexico Public Education Department documents and the published data.

Is computer science a graduation requirement in New Mexico?

No single computer science credit is required. Under HB171, starting with cohort 2029, high schools must offer computer science as an elective, and students choose a two-unit elective pathway.

Who is cohort 2029?

PED defines cohort 2029 as students entering high school in SY 2025-26, so the ninth graders of fall 2025 are the first class under the HB171 requirements.

How many units does a New Mexico diploma need under HB171?

The cohort 2029 flyer lists 24 units, with 5.5 elective units that must include a two-unit pathway and two units set by the local school board.

Which computer science standards does New Mexico use?

PED says New Mexico instruction draws directly from the CSTA PK-12 Computer Science Standards (2026), which give more weight to artificial intelligence and data literacy.

Does New Mexico have a computer science plan?

Yes. A task force met from fall 2019 and the PED completed a five-year computer science strategic plan in June 2021, with goals for standards, teacher endorsement and course access.

How many New Mexico high schools offer computer science?

Code.org (2025) reports 126 of 235 New Mexico high schools, or 53.6%, offering computer science in 2023 to 2024, up from 23% in 2018 to 2019.

How many New Mexico students take computer science?

The most recent Code.org count is 3,335 of 101,654 high school students, or 3.28%. Its yearly participation series ends at 3.3% for 2022 to 2023.

What time are classes for New Mexico families?

Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience. All of New Mexico is on Mountain Time, and times are confirmed in it.

Can your classes count as the HB171 computer science elective?

No. Elective units come from school courses. Our classes add depth, projects and AP Computer Science Principles preparation alongside a school pathway.

Are you connected with the New Mexico PED?

No. We are an independent online school and are not connected with the PED, the City of Albuquerque, Code.org or the College Board.

Explore the United States

Where New Mexico students go next

Students choosing a pathway can compare AP Computer Science Principles coaching with AP Computer Science A classes. For a project with an audience, see the Congressional App Challenge guide, and for a state where computer science became compulsory, read about North Carolina.

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