Michael Swickard
“My mama always said, stupid is as stupid does.” – Forrest Gump
New Mexico public education has struggled to improve over the years without experiencing success. That might be the result of stupidity – continuing to do what has always been done and continuing to get the same results. Or is that the definition of insanity? Never mind.
The new school accountability numbers are in and there was not any improvement for the eighth and final year of the “Education Governor” Bill Richardson. How could all of those years and all of that money go by in our state without any real improvement in education? Simple, each year New Mexico got more of the same educational leadership that resulted in the same results.
I am mindful of this because New Mexico has a new governor with a mandate to make real change, not just political change. There is a new head of the Public Education Department who is dissimilar from all previous heads of the New Mexico Public Education Department.
At a superintendent’s conference last week in Albuquerque, I noticed the attendees were more optimistic than a year ago at last year’s conference. Last year there was uncertainty as to who was going to lead the state and what was going to be the effect of budget issues. I have been going to these conferences for many years. Will the Martinez administration manage education the same old way governors have done for generations? I think not.
I spoke to a number of superintendents and their staff in the course of the conference and was struck by how much more open they were to solving permanently the education problems. So how can we dramatically improve New Mexico public education?
Three issues
To get to that answer we must look at three interrelated issues: First, is there research showing how to dramatically improve public education? Yes, it is good practical research. Second, will changing education in New Mexico be easy? No, it will take a major change in practice to be able to use the practical research. Finally, what has been the major barrier to improving education? New Mexico has a culture of mediocrity that allows students to fail without much pressure from the parents, press or politicians.
First, though, we must note that the current practice of the schools does work for some students. It would be insane to change what works for them. So what we are tasked to do is change the educational practice of those students who are not thriving while leaving the rest of the students in a system that works for them.
What I want to see is any change in education supported by peer-reviewed, published research that has been replicated in practice. Example: There is much buzz nationally about the actions of the Kennewick School District in Washington on the Oregon border. They set a goal of having 90 percent of all of their students reading on grade level. It took a few years, but they applied research and kept working on the goal.
Today the Kennewick School District is a model of successful research. But while the success they had was interesting reading, it was not until they took that model to school districts in Kentucky and got the same improvement results that most of us started using those approaches. Here in New Mexico, some of the school districts are using these changes suggested by the Kennewick research, but the state as a whole is still stuck with the political solutions of the past because politicians make the ultimate decisions.
Skandera impresses
I spent an hour in June speaking to Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera about her vision for using practical research in New Mexico. I came away impressed. She does understand New Mexico’s problems and is working toward new solutions based on the research that has been replicated in other states.
At the superintendent’s conference she spoke and a number attendees said to me they were impressed by her grasp of the problems. Next year can be the year real improvement is made in New Mexico public education if all of the stakeholders, including politicians, join hands to solve New Mexico’s education problems.
Swickard is co-host of the radio talk show News New Mexico, which airs from 6 to 9 a.m. Monday through Friday on KSNM-AM 570 in Las Cruces and throughout the state through streaming. His e-mail address is michael@swickard.com.