Dennis J. Roch
Education reform is never easy. But education reform is necessary, and now more than ever.
A 2010 report on graduation rates showed less than 55 percent of New Mexican students graduate from high school, on time, with a regular diploma. A closer look at the numbers spells more trouble for our minority students. Among the state’s Native American population, only 51.3 percent graduated, and for our Hispanic students, the number is an abysmal 50.3 percent.
To put it another way, the same report says of the 29,606 New Mexico students who entered the 9th grade in 2006 an average of 74 students per school day were lost.
Performance in the earlier grades is not much better. In fact more than 16 percent of our third-grade students are scoring at the lowest level on the state’s annual reading test. The lowest level! That’s a disturbing statistic, and one that warrants an immediate response from all New Mexicans.
It’s clear the status quo isn’t working and something needs to be done. But it takes parents, teachers, administrators and state policymakers coming together to put our kids first, regardless of how difficult it may be.
Commonsense changes
Legislation that recently passed the State House of Representatives offers a solution by providing these lowest performers a chance to get the remediation and intervention they need before they are thrown into a higher grade without the skills necessary to succeed there. Of course, the legislation also provides reasonable exceptions for students with learning disabilities, for English language learners, and for students who demonstrate mastery of our rigorous standards through alternative measures.
Other proposals designed to put our kids first include legislation that will stop the rating of our community’s schools as merely pass or fail but will report their success using a meaningful measure that includes student growth from year to year. This proposal truly honors the dedicated work of our teachers in the classroom, and I look forward to our schools earning the credit they so richly deserve for the excellent work they do with our students on a daily basis.
These are the commonsense changes that are working through the Roundhouse. Ending social promotion, assigning a grade to a school, and rewarding great teachers are all essential to changing the culture of education in New Mexico.
The point of these reforms is simple: If we keep trying the same things, we’re going to see the same results. And these results we see shouldn’t be acceptable to parents, students or anyone else.
Time to act
Time is critical. Only a few days remain in this Legislative session, and these important changes need to get moving right now. Another year of delay means yet another year of poor performance perpetuated by the practices that are hurting our students, hindering our communities and suppressing our economy.
There is no doubt there are ties between missteps in education and pitfalls in our economic well-being. To look at a failing system and fail to act is no longer an option if we care about our children’s future.
Parents are critical to the success of our schools, and we invite parents to stand with the Legislature, Secretary Skandera and Governor Martinez in challenging the status quo in favor of more effective schools for our children and communities.
Roch is a Republican state representative from Texico. Other GOP House members who co-authored this column are Tom Taylor of Farmington, Don Bratton of Hobbs, James R.J. Strickler of Farmington, Jane Powdrell-Culbert of Corrales, Larry Larrañaga of Albuquerque, Don Tripp of Socorro, Nora Espinosa of Roswell, Alonzo Baldonado of Los Lunas, Jimmie Hall of Albuquerque, Dianne Hamilton of Silver City, Bob Wooley of Roswell, William “Bill” Gray of Artesia, Yvette Herrell of Alamogordo, and Cathrynn Brown of Carlsbad and Conrad James of Albuquerque.