Thomas Molitor
Dr. Matthew Ladner, VP of research at the Goldwater Institute in Arizona and an adjunct fellow with New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation, is coming to New Mexico on a speaking tour to wax wonderful about the results of his study on Florida’s education reforms, especially among Hispanic students.
I wrote of Dr. Ladner’s study back in February on this site when I was writing about New Mexico’s 54 percent high-school dropout rate and how the rate was even larger among Hispanic students. Here’s a passage from my guest column citing the Florida success story:
“The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) is the gold standard of national education achievement tests. Over the past decade, NAEP reading scores for fourth graders have soared in Florida – nine percentage points – more than twice the national gain. Florida’s eight-grade reading gains were almost double the national average. Math scores also registered solid gains, exceeding the national average. Most impressive has been the success of minorities. Scores among Florida’s low-income Hispanic students have risen much faster that the national average. Hispanic fourth-graders in Florida now boast reading scores higher than the all-student average in 15 states.”
The programs in Florida were a combination of choice and competition. In that state, almost 20,000 students eligible for accelerated special education took advantage of the opportunity to use a voucher to attend private schools, and more than 21,000 students received scholarships averaging $3,750 from a tax credit program that opened private schooling to students from low-income families.
Florida reform also included an alternative teacher certification program. Say a mathematician or scientist at the labs wanted to get into teaching. Under New Mexico law, that individual would have to go through an onerous system and take more than 30 hours of coursework in order to actually teach. Florida allows local districts to certify teachers and set up a group of institutes to aid would-be teachers without an elaborate process.
Unique to New Mexico?
Back to New Mexico. Here’s one of the comments that followed my guest column that stopped me in my tracks at the time:
“Demographics may make comparisons to states such as Florida temping, but there’s a world of difference in New Mexican culture. Unless we are willing to deal with the family and societal factors unique to New Mexico, which consistently mean half of our students do not graduate, there’s no amount of money or good intentions that will make a difference in New Mexico.”
Wow, I thought to myself, are there family and societal factors unique to New Mexico that would preclude Hispanic New Mexican students from replicating the same success rate produced by Hispanic students in Florida – if the same Florida reform model were imposed on New Mexico?
I made a note to myself that if I ever met Dr. Ladner I would ask him that very question. At last, now I have that chance to ask him in person when he comes to Albuquerque this week.
In an Op-Ed piece in the Albuquerque Journal by Dr. Ladner a week or so ago titled, “Success for N.M. Minority Students Lies with Adults,” Dr. Ladner made his case that the low achievement scores and dropout rate of New Mexican Hispanic students could be remedied if New Mexico adopted some of the education reforms that the state of Florida has adopted.
“Startling statistics show that with abundant school choice and systemic education reform, Florida’s Hispanic students already eclipsed the average academic performance of many states. Former Gov. Jeb Bush pushed through an education reform strategy of accountability from both the top down (state testing) and bottom up (parental choice) in 1999. Bush’s A+ Plan emphasized standards for the schools and transparency for parents.
“Florida grades the performance of schools A, B, C, D or F and rewards success and creates consequences for prolonged failure. Failing schools faced consequences for prolonged failure, including school vouchers for their students.”
Dr. Ladner has thrown down a challenge to New Mexico: If Florida can turn things around, so can we.
Demographic differences
But what about the societal and cultural factors unique to New Mexico that may block the Florida reforms from working here?
Don’t ask me. I’m white. I do not speak Spanish. I did not do K-12 in New Mexico. And I haven’t any children in school in New Mexico.
But for the sake of giving credence to my commenter’s observation, let’s look at the demographic difference in what is broadly categorized as “Hispanic.” Florida’s Hispanic population includes large communities of Cuban Americans in Miami and Tampa, Puerto Ricans in Orlando and Tampa, and Central America migrant workers in inland West-Central and South Florida.
Conversely, more than one-third of New Mexicans claim Hispanic origin, many are descendants of colonial settlers. Speakers of New Mexican Spanish dialect are mainly descendants of Spain’s colonists who arrived in New Mexico in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. They settled in the northern portion of the state. Most of the Mexicans immigrants reside in the southern part of the state. New Mexican Spanish has a vocabulary often unknown to other Spanish speakers.
Would the same education reforms that worked in a Hispanic culture from Puerto Rico, Cuba and Central America work in the Hispanic culture of New Mexico?
It’s the first question I plan on asking Dr. Ladner on Wednesday.
The Ladner speaker luncheons will be in Albuquerque on Wednesday, Las Cruces on Thursday and Santa Fe on Friday. Call the Rio Grande Foundation at (505) 264-6090 for locations.
Molitor is an adjunct scholar at the Rio Grande Foundation and a regular columnist for this site. You can reach Molitor at tgmolitor@comcast.net.
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