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Sunday, December 13, 2009

For Too Many, Diploma an Empty Promise

By Martin Salazar
Copyright © 2009 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
          Editor's Note: Lawmakers and education experts have identified the achievement gap between Hispanic and Anglo students as a serious problem that has vexed the state for years. Today the Journal continues its spotlight on the issue with a report that many of our graduates are not prepared for college or the work force.
        Christina Deel made it through Robertson High School on the B honor roll and graduated from the Las Vegas, N.M., school with the rest of her classmates in 2000.
        But when the Hispanic student enrolled at New Mexico Highlands University, she quickly realized she was in over her head.
        "I like freaked out and didn't want to go back," Deel said, explaining that she wished she had started her college career with remedial classes rather than jumping straight into required courses.
        Disillusioned and unprepared for what awaited her at a four-year university, Deel dropped out after just one semester, illustrating a quandary facing graduates of several New Mexico high schools.
        A Journal analysis of state education data suggests New Mexico may have a quality control problem when it comes to ensuring that students receiving high school diplomas have mastered the state curriculum.
        The analysis of 23 randomly selected high schools in 13 of the state's 89 school districts found that some of the schools with the lowest proficiency rates have among the highest graduation rates.
        It's a problem that hasn't gone unnoticed by Education Secretary Veronica Garcia.
        "I have a serious concern about seeing high schools posting high graduation rates with low proficiency," Garcia told the Journal. "There is a major disconnect there."
        She expressed similar concerns during a Legislative Finance Committee hearing last month.
        "We see districts with an 87 or 92 percent graduation rate with 33 percent proficiency," she told lawmakers. "In those types of situations, I think we're really giving our students a false bill of goods and a false sense of hope that they're going to graduate from high school ready for college and career. ... I don't think that's fair to our kids."
        Several of the high schools with high graduation rates and low proficiency rates have predominantly Hispanic student populations.
        The vast difference between proficiency and graduation rates raises a troubling question: Is New Mexico's lackluster 60.3 percent four-year graduation rate actually inflated?
        Like some of the examples cited by Garcia, Robertson High has a respectable 74.1 percent graduation rate for the class of 2008, yet only 33.1 percent of the students in that same class were proficient in math and 52.4 percent were proficient in reading when they were tested in the 11th grade.
        Proficiency rates reflect the percentage of students who have mastered academic skills the state has determined a student should have at various grade levels.
        Although Deel managed to remain on the B honor roll throughout high school, she was taking basic math and general English classes instead of the more challenging classes offered by the school. She said she doesn't remember teachers or high school counselors advising her to take the tougher classes.
        "I think my main thing was they didn't challenge us enough," Deel said.
        LFC auditors also noted the paradox in a recent performance audit they did on five districts: Las Vegas City Schools, which granted Deel's diploma, West Las Vegas, Bernalillo, Bloomfield and Aztec.
        "West Las Vegas had the lowest 11th grade proficiency (of the five districts) but the highest graduation rate," auditors reported.
        While West Las Vegas had a graduation rate of 76.4 percent, the 11th grade proficiency rates for the same group of students was 13.7 percent in math and 35.3 percent in reading. A little more than half of the school's graduates who attended a New Mexico college had to take at least one remedial class.
        A larger gap
        At Santa Rosa High, the discrepancy is even more pronounced. Only 12.2 percent of that school's 11th graders could do math at their grade level, while the figure was 34.7 percent for reading. Yet the school boasted a 93.7 percent graduation rate for that same group of students in the class of 2008.
        Roughly 54 percent of Santa Rosa High graduates who went on to a New Mexico college needed remedial classes.
        Contrast that with schools like La Cueva, Los Alamos and Taos, which all have proficiency rates in line with their graduation rates.
        La Cueva, for example, has an 87.9 percent graduation rate. Math proficiency was at 74.2 percent, reading was at 81.4 percent and only a quarter of graduates needed remedial classes.
        Santa Rosa principal Richard Perea said his graduates have earned credits required by the state and have passed the New Mexico High School Competency Exam. He said his high school is small, with about 40 students in each grade, allowing teachers and other staff to work closely with those struggling to graduate.
        As for the wide gap between the district's proficiency rates and its high graduation rate, Perea said it may be that students don't take seriously the test used to determine proficiency, given there are no consequences for doing poorly. Regardless of the reason for the low scores, Perea said his school is working hard to boost its proficiency rates.
        Moises Venegas, a former educator and longtime education researcher, said while New Mexico graduation rates are nothing to brag about, the reality is even worse when you consider that many graduates aren't prepared for college or the work force.
        "We have probably a deeper, a more basic problem," Venegas said. "The typical employer will say that many students are not ready to get certain jobs because they can't read or can't write a complete sentence."
        Changes face delay
        The high school redesign law enacted several years ago by the governor and state Legislature is geared toward making sure New Mexico graduates are better prepared for college by requiring them to take tougher classes. But as state revenues plummet, some lawmakers have suggested delaying the more rigorous changes to save money.
        Deel, meanwhile, hasn't given up on her dream for a better life.
        "I recently went back like three years ago to Luna Community College, but it's been a struggle," she said. Her schooling is taking longer because she has opted to take remedial classes this time around. She's also working full time.
        Deel hopes to someday be a social worker because she likes helping people and enjoys working with kids.
        Still, she can't help but wonder what her life would be like if she had been challenged in high school.
        "I think I would be finished with college and actually (have) my degree," she said.
       

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