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“You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.”
- César Chávez
New Mexico’s education system must be reformed, that much is clear. If our state is to be better and stronger in this new century than it was in the last, such a transformation must begin by giving our children the world-class education they deserve.
I am sponsoring legislation this session that will help our children achieve their potential, not by calling them failures and holding them back against the wishes of their parents and against the advice of their educators, but through a comprehensive plan of targeted intervention and effective remediation. My bill, HB 53, addresses the learning needs of New Mexico students in a proactive manner through the implementation of three common-sense measures.
First, research consistently and unequivocally shows that holding children back (retention) is detrimental to their long-term education and results in higher overall dropout rates. This same research shows that what works is intensive intervention during the early years of a child’s education. That is why my bill will not allow schools to wait until third grade – when children may have already been struggling for years – to intervene. My bill will focus resources on individual students, from kindergarten onward, and target remediation to the specific areas in which a specific student needs help.
Second, my bill will let parents continue to have a strong voice in their child’s education. Parents are the most important and effective influence on a child’s education. That is why, under my plan, parents are active participants throughout the intervention process and children will never be required to repeat a grade without their parent’s consent. Student assistant teams (which include the parents) will be formed for struggling students and a strategy will then be developed that specifies the child’s deficiency and includes a targeted intervention/remediation program.
Third, HB 53 places equal emphasis on reading and math. Literacy means, first and foremost, the ability to understand and correctly manipulate symbols. Focusing exclusively on reading skills, especially in an age when math and science are the cornerstones of productivity and innovation, is extremely shortsighted. It is essential that we make sure our students are receiving a comprehensive, 21st-century education that targets their specific strengths and weaknesses from an early age.
My plan is a forward-looking approach to education policy that will create a comprehensive system of effective reforms. Most important, though, HB 53 will institute reforms that are good for our children.
Retention is not reform. Retention is not the answer. Forcing children, against the wishes of their parents, to repeat grades is a disappointing and ineffective approach that will only harm our children and our future.
