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Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Fewer Schools Making AYP Despite Gains

By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer
       The number of New Mexico students proficient in reading, math and science increased last year, but the gains weren't enough to reverse the trend of more schools failing to make adequately yearly progress.
    In math, 41 percent of New Mexico students tested last spring were proficient or better, a five-point gain from 2008. In reading, 55 percent of students were proficient, up from 53 percent the previous year. And in science, 46 percent hit the mark, a gain of 3 percentage points.
    Despite that, more than two-thirds of the state's schools fell into the category of failing to meet AYP, according to data released Monday by the state Public Education Department.
    The results also show the so-called achievement gap continues to be a problem in New Mexico as white and Asian students continue to outperform Hispanic, American Indian and black students.
    Gov. Bill Richardson, who has made education reform a priority during his 6 1/2 years in office, plans to unveil another batch of reforms as early as this week.
    "We will push very hard so that the main legislative agenda item in January and in my remainder of the term will be education, to finish what I believe is a good start and good progress," Richardson told the Journal last week. "We recognize that we still have a ways to go."
    The federal No Child Left Behind Act calls for all students to score proficient or better in reading and math by the 2013-14 school year. It also requires annual designations of which schools are making adequate yearly progress toward the 100 percent goal.
    Schools repeatedly failing to meet adequate yearly progress could face sanctions, including restructuring. Results released Monday are preliminary and school districts have several weeks to appeal their designations.
    The results show that for the 2008-09 school year:
    n 69.3 percent of New Mexico's schools were labeled as failing to meet AYP, up from 67.7 percent the previous year.
    n 124 out of 147 middle schools failed to make AYP, meaning a failure rate of 84.4 percent.
    n Of the state's 157 high schools, 129, or 82.2 percent, failed to make AYP.
    The results are based on standardized tests taken by about 162,000 students in third through eighth grades and in 11th grade.
    Schools are judged in 37 categories, including whether English language learners, students with disabilities and different ethnic groups are meeting standards. If a school misses even one of the 37 standards, it is labeled as failing to meet AYP.
    "As I have said before, AYP is not the best tool for measuring school and student progress," Education Secretary Veronica Garcia said at a news conference. "I ask that parents, communities, students, teachers and state leaders look at achievement data for each individual school."
    Forty of the schools that missed AYP missed it by just three or fewer indicators.
    Fourth-grade reading scores showed 69 percent of whites and 67 percent of Asians are proficient compared to 47 percent of Hispanics, 46 percent of blacks and 36 percent of American Indians.
    "While we are seeing increases in student achievement across the board, we still see a stubborn achievement gap persist," Garcia said. "Again, in part, this is because as minority students perform better, Caucasian students also continue to perform better."
    In an interview with the Journal last week, Richardson said he wants to see more progress in the achievement gap and on the dropout rate.

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