[August 02, 2008]

Number of failing schools up in Santa Fe, state: Education secretary says rising student achievement outweighs test results

(Santa Fe New Mexican, The (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 2--State education officials stressed student progress during a press conference Friday announcing otherwise grim results from last year's state tests.

The annual tests are used to determine whether schools meet adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

In Santa Fe, only three -- Tesuque and Wood Gormley elementary schools and the Service, Employment and Redevelopment Academy -- of 31 public schools, including charter schools, made AYP. Last year, seven schools made AYP.

Students in grades three to nine are tested in math and reading, and schools are evaluated on the results of the entire population as well as those of subgroups that include Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, English-language learners, students with disabilities and those who are economically disadvantaged.

Each year, the percentage of students required to score proficient in math and reading increases until 2014, when 100 percent of students are expected to score proficient.

Last year, for example, 28 percent of students in a K-6 school had to score proficient for a school to meet requirements. This year, 41 percent of students at the same school had to score proficient.

Nearly 70 percent of New Mexico schools failed to meet state benchmarks, an increase from the 54 percent that did not meet requirements last year.

Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia, though, argued that gains in student achievement outweigh the ever-growing number of schools failing to meet requirements, especially when the percentage of students required to score proficient increased by an average of 12 percent this year.

"Our student achievement scores are on an upward trend over the last four years," Garcia said. "We are on a steadily increasing trajectory, yet somehow we have more schools not meeting AYP."

The percentage of students proficient in math, Garcia said, has increased by 6.2 percent over the last four years. In reading, there has been a 3 percent gain during the same time period, she said.

Despite those modest gains, only one in three Hispanic fourth-graders was proficient in math last year, and only one in four American Indian fourth-graders was proficient in math. In fact, the percentage of all fourth-graders proficient in math fell from last year, with the exception of those classified as economically disadvantaged.

On the test results in Santa Fe schools, Superintendent Bobbie Gutierrez said: "First of all, I guess the good news is that we're thrilled about SER Academy making AYP. We're disappointed about our other schools."

The academy is home to students who struggled at the district's traditional high schools.

Like Garcia, Gutierrez pointed out that despite AYP designations, her schools continue to show progress.

She acknowledged, though, that test scores reveal some shortcomings. At Acequia Madre -- often considered one of the top schools in the district -- while 64.3 percent of Caucasian students were proficient in math, only 18.9 percent of Hispanics scored proficient.

"That's unacceptable," Gutierrez said. "We have to be sure that we are not treating subgroups of children differently."

At De Vargas and Alameda middle schools, less than 2 percent of students with disabilities were proficient in math. While officials argue it is unfair to hold special-education students to the same standard as traditional students, Gutierrez said the results were "extraordinarily low."

"It's something that we'll have to look into," she said.

On Friday, Garcia and her staff outlined some of the things schools can do to improve, such as partnering with local educational institutions, primarily for teacher training.

Officials admitted that while they get federal money to help schools, this year it will be spread so thin that schools in the three lowest designations of NCLB -- Corrective Action, Restructuring I and Restructuring II -- will get only about $50,000 each.

Some schools, such as Santa Fe's Ramirez Thomas Elementary, will continue to receive funding for America's Choice, a prescribed curriculum that includes extra math and reading instruction.

More than anything, Gutierrez said, officials will have to take a close look at data and examine where individual schools fell short to help them improve, .

Contact John Sena at 986-3079 or jsena@sfnewmexican.com.

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