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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Gov. Issues Achievement Gap Report

By Hailey Heinz
Journal Staff Writer
       Teaching about diverse cultures, tracking students toward careers and adequate funding for education are some of the recommendations that emerged from three summits last year on closing the achievement gap.
    The summits each focused on a different cultural group: Hispanics, American Indians and blacks. The final report, released Tuesday by Gov. Bill Richardson and the Public Education Department, includes a set of recommendations from each summit.
    Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia said teams have been assigned to each set of goals and will work toward adopting as many of the suggestions as possible.
    "Each one will be handled a little bit differently," Garcia said, adding that because the suggestions vary widely, some can be handled at the community level while others may need legislative action.
    Concrete proposals will probably emerge from the teams over the next year, she said.
    Among the recommendations are required anti-racism training, assessments that go beyond standardized testing, student involvement in making school policy, in-school job opportunities for students, mentorship programs and increased community involvement.
    Moises Venegas, an activist who directs the community organization Quinto Sol, said the recommendations are a positive step but should focus more on teacher quality and raising expectations.
    "At the summits, they were asking for things that were 'bold and daring,' but they don't do anything bold and daring," Venegas said. "I think the classroom focus is important versus all the nice other little things. Those are nice, they're all right, but they're not the answer."
    One recommendation from the American Indian summit urges lawmakers to tie teacher pay to student performance, a measure Venegas supports but that is stiffly opposed by teacher unions.
    José Armas, also an activist for Hispanic education, said the recommendations are a step in the right direction but lack detail.
    "I think that to some degree these statements are vague enough that there's nobody that would argue against them," he said. "That's one of the inherent problems of trying to build a consensus of how to change a broken education system."
    Garcia emphasized that the recommendations will not solely benefit minorities, and that raising achievement within one group usually raises it across the board.
    "Many of these recommendations cut across ethnicities, and all students will benefit," she said.

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