Hispanic high school students in the Southwest are developing a habit of turning academic heads.

There is the story of the robotics team from Phoenix's Carl Hayden High School who shook the science world by taking first place in the 2004 Marine Advanced Technology Education Center Remotely Operated Vehicle Competition. Not only were they high schoolers who beat out the whiz kids of MIT who were operating with a $11,000 budget, some of which was from sponsorships, but they were also undocumented Hispanic children. 

That feat is the subject of an upcoming feature film, which is in the works with Latino comedian George Lopez. Filming is being done in New Mexico. Which brings us to the academic achievement everyone is talking about these days, New Mexico's Hispanic students leading the nation in AP test scores. The state also ranked second in AP results from low-income students.

Obviously the question of how New Mexico accomplished this comes to the forefront of those who work in education.

Is New Mexico as a whole topping the charts of AP scores across the board? The answer is "no." Unfortunately, New Mexico is actually performing below the national average for AP testing. According to the Associated Press, only 12 percent of students taking AP exams are passing the tests; the national average stands at 20 percent.

New Mexico does have the highest percentage of Hispanic high school students at 53.3 percent of the student population. Of those students, 46.7 percent took an AP exam. Of those taking the exams, 43 percent of them passed. New Mexico's nearest competitor is its next door neighbor, Texas. In Texas, 44.7 percent of students are Hispanic with a 42.5 percent AP participation and a passing rate of 36.9 percent.

But New Mexico has taken some unique and proactive steps for its "historically underserved" students that seem to be paying dividends in results.

First, New Mexico takes money. Last year, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez secured $750,000 and a state grant of $1 million from the non-profit College Board to expand AP programs. 

An economic incentive for success was then established. New Mexico budgeted to provide $5,000 stipends for AP teachers whose students showed improvement in their class from one year to the next.

AP materials were translated into Spanish and Navajo, "with the goal of increasing parental involvement to support their children in taking AP courses." Online AP courses were then developed and implemented to make sure students in rural areas had access to these high level courses. Support pilot-projects for middle schools were also launched in Pojoaque, Bernalillo, Carlsbad and Zuni to prepare minority and low-income students for AP classes in high school.

"We can see these results," Governor Martinez said. "Our efforts to expand AP courses and make them available to more students are paying off and helping families save more than $3.5 million on college tuition. That's why I am asking lawmakers to approve $2 million in AP funding, so that we can continue to build upon our success."

New Mexico students produced 5,936 AP exams with passing scores that earned college credit, for an estimated total of 17,808 college credits in 2013. Using an average of $200 per credit hour, this translates into a savings for students—and their parents—of more than $3.5 million.

New Mexico's initiative getting Hispanic and low-income students into AP exams yields a precedent that could be followed in other geographic areas.

"There's been a really effective set of strategies to promote the value of advance placement coursework to Hispanic parents," College Board VP Trevor Packer tells Fusion. "What we've seen New Mexico doing is proactively reaching out to minority students and informing them of these AP opportunities and encouraging them to take them."

Similar programs are being implemented in other areas, but usually in small pockets of advocacy. In Arlington, Texas, the Arlington Independent School District is partnering with the University of Texas at Arlington through a program called "Bound for Success" to identify potential college-bound Hispanic students early in their high school career and guide them toward AP courses as a means to increase college enrollment. This was more in response to students with college aptitude who were not even applying for college, but the methodology is in line with what has been happening in New Mexico.