Michael Swickard
Calls to reform New Mexico public education have gone on for so long no one remembers when there were not reform calls, if ever. They are the status quo. Know this: Continuing to do what in the past took New Mexico public education to where it is right now is inexcusable. Rather than attempt to reform a broken model of education, New Mexico must innovate fundamentally or suffer the same old results.
Example: We continually hear that to improve student outcomes, we must raise academic standards. While I certainly would not lower standards, they are not the change agent.
We get tied up by the hoo-ha about raising standards, average yearly statistical lies and our place in the national standings. These are of little practical use. For many years New Mexico has flung money at schools without any connection to students doing well.
Despite all of the tests and reports, the “why” of students failing still escapes our leaders. Most often, if students are not thriving, the issue is fundamental processes rather than external standards. Hopefully, the core educational goal in New Mexico is for each student to do well. If so, we should be shocked that only half of New Mexico students read on or above grade level. Reading is the fundamental part of education.
Our core goal
Our core goal must be for students to do well. Anything we want to change we must measure. Therefore, at least 90 percent of public school students must be able to read on grade level at all times. To reach that goal we must have a robust measurement both descriptively of where students are, and prescriptively: If they continue doing what they are doing, will they be on grade level by the end of the year? No more being in the dark until the end-of-the-year tests.
Now, I do not believe in goals that cannot be done. So you know, the 90 percent reading on grade level goal has been tried previously. With lots of work, it was realized. Again, we must measure carefully to see where fragile students who are not reading on grade level because they lack sub-skills are in relation to that goal.
Do not get into the “how” to change the outcomes of students. That involves strategies and tactics that are volatile. I just want these strategies: First, failure is not an option for our students. Second, we must not care how students are elevated to success, just that they are. Finally, we must know at all times how students are doing, not just once a year.
We must constantly be able to tell parents and community leaders how the students are doing, and if it looks like they will meet the goal of being able to read on grade level.
Effective reading comprises two concurrent tasks, dependent upon a host of learned sub-skills: Students must comprehend the words they read while processing them at an effective rate. Both comprehension and rate are dependent upon the student’s grade level. While much early reading involves reading aloud, the most important academic skill in education is effective silent reading. It is tested the most and taught the least.
For students to do well, they must, by the end of third grade, be able to read silently at an effective rate and comprehension.
What will we do differently?
Representative Mary Helen Garcia has introduced New Mexico House Bill 21 requiring students not proficient in reading at the end of grade three not be promoted to grade four. What will be done differently if a student is held back? If reading interventions are available upon being held back, use them now to prevent the failure rather than as remediation.
I would be all for this bill if assured no student would ever be held back because the after interventions would be used to prevent failure. Do it in first grade. School leaders must know day by day, week by week how each and every student is doing from both how they have done to what the likely outcome is if they continue with their current interventions.
Not all students come to kindergarten with the same skill set. Some arrive already knowing their alphabet, numbers and can write their name. Others do not. Some can distinguish the 40 or so sounds those letters make either individually or in combination having mastered phonemic awareness.
It is a fact that some students start behind others. The problem is that those who start behind have two concurrent tasks; they must make a year of progress like all other students. But first they must make the catch-up growth to join where their fellow students started. Most never catch up. After a few years of not catching up, the problem is compounded with textbooks written in grade level language while they are not on grade level.
Students can learn to read effectively under three conditions: First, there must be a diagnostic component of their instruction showing which reading sub-skills are not being mastered; second, that diagnostic component must connect with a prescriptive component projecting the probability current interventions will result in the mastery of these sub-skills; and, third, there must be enough different interventions available to teachers so that the individual impeding issues can be addressed with personalized adaptive instruction centered on the student.
Not a bad problem to have
Which interventions are used is not important; what’s important is that teachers have the available data to know, student by student, what sub-skills are not present, and that they have plenty of ways to do interventions with each individual student. Again, the goal is the students doing well, not which intervention should be used.
There are a million things that could improve New Mexico schools, but nothing will lift our state like having every student reading on grade level. Beware of one problem for New Mexico leaders. If they cure the dropout problem caused by the reading problem they will have to pour more money into their high schools. Many more previously dropping out students will now graduate.
Not a bad problem to have, eh?
Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site, and he also works as a consultant on adaptive reading procedures and fundamental math development in public schools. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.
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