by Wayne Lewis

By The Numbers
That mission takes many forms. As the steward of the APS’s data and information systems, Bowman helms the effort to turn raw numbers into insights that drive improvements. At the same time, he oversees the initiative to ensure that every pupil has a device for pandemic-forced remote instruction. He’s also expanded opportunities for students by sponsoring the district’s e-sports program. His impact has earned him accolades, including recognition by Albuquerque Business First in 2020 as one of the publication’s “40 Under Forty” in New Mexico.

Bowman’s vision and analytical skills spur APS’s efforts to harness the power of increasingly abundant data. Job one was to make that data publicly available, so Bowman established a dashboard on the district’s website with rich metrics of school enrollment and demographics. “Accountability starts with transparency,” he says. “Data is critical. Even if people don’t know exactly what it means, it’s typically the one thing that they can agree upon.” Bowman aims to keep applications of that data sharply focused on the needs of the district’s pupils. He has employed student data, for example, to identify those who may be on the verge of trouble and could benefit from intervention by the counseling department, and helped put test scores into a context that can guide curricula and teacher training. “You find the people who can do something different to make positive changes in the lives of kids,” he says, “and you find out what information they need to better make that decision or take that action.”

In this endeavor, Bowman cites the influence of his days at the Institute.

“The most accurate way to describe my approach is that I’m an engineer and a problem solver,” he says. “That’s what I got from Caltech. It was a heavy dose of difficult problems that all needed to be solved, and learning how to find the next answer—and how not to give up.”

All About Connection
Bowman’s strategies are guided by experiences from his own schooling and his time as a teacher.

“To be a good teacher, you systematically, regularly, and somewhat effortlessly connect with somewhere between 10 to 300 young people a year; demonstrate that you care about them; and convince them that in some part they should live their lives based on what they learned in your classroom,” he says. “That takes a lot of emotional fortitude. Technology is a way to support and sponsor that type of connection, and make it easier.”

Resourcefulness, dealmaking, and coordination were necessary to enable home connectivity after COVID-19 contagion suddenly drove instruction online. In addition to APS-provided hotspots, families could get access to federal funding and low-cost basic broadband from a local provider. “It was basically ‘all of the above’ to try to solve the problem,” Bowman says.

He tips his hat to the stripped-down Chromebook as cornerstone hardware for facilitating connection between teachers and students. Ease of use and setup kept his IT team from being overwhelmed and allowed teachers to spend less time providing tech support.

“If teachers are focusing on technology, they’re not focusing on the kids,” Bowman says. “The degree to which the technology can do its job and get out of the way is critical.”

‍