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Thursday, October 15, 2009

N.M. Math Scores Among Worst in U.S.

By Hailey Heinz
Journal Staff Writer
       A new batch of testing results shows New Mexico students' math scores are among the nation's worst, with little change from previous years.
    The data, released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress and often called the Nation's Report Card, shows New Mexico's fourth-graders with an average math score of 230 out of 500. The national average was 239.
    The New Mexico average score for eighth-graders was 270, compared to a national average of 282.
    The achievement gap between New Mexico's Anglo students and students of other ethnicities remained wide, without significant change from 2007.
    Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia said the overall numbers may not provide a fair comparison because of the small sample of students tested. About 11 percent of New Mexico's fourth-graders and 10 percent of eighth-graders took the test.
    Garcia also said students and teachers in New Mexico often do not take the test very seriously because scores are not broken down by district or school. She said other states use incentives to raise awareness about the test's importance.
    "Some states have a really big NAEP push, a lot of partnership with business, kids given certificates, movie passes or (they) get a T-shirt," Garcia said. "We've tried to talk up the importance of NAEP, but it's never really caught traction in our state."
    Garcia said she is glad the state did not lose ground from previous years, saying the scores showed "steady progress" during the past decade. Since 2000, the average score for fourth-graders has gone up 17 points while the eighth-grade score has risen 11 points.
    However, New Mexico's scores for both grade levels improved by only two points since 2007 — the last time NAEP released math data — and that change is statistically insignificant, according to the report card.
    Four states had worse fourth-grade scores than New Mexico, which tied with Arizona. Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi all scored lower.
    Eighth-graders in New Mexico had the same average score as those in California and West Virginia, with just Alabama and Mississippi scoring lower.
    NAEP tests a sample of students in states across the country, providing a more uniform measure than the tests states use to determine Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act.
    The achievement gap continues in New Mexico. The average fourth-grade score for Anglo students was 245, while the average score for Hispanic students was 224. The averages for Black and American Indian students were 225 and 217, respectively.
    New Mexico's scores follow national trends in most ways, although the state's average eighth-grade score failed to rise with the national average, which increased since 2007. Fourth-grade scores stayed statistically level nationwide.

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