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Monday, August 02, 2010

Education Vision Differs for Governor Candidates

By Sean Olson
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
          Gov. Bill Richardson, who has said he would like to be known as the "education governor," has instituted numerous policies to improve performance in New Mexico public schools, but voters will have to choose in November whether to follow through with his ideas or take a step in another direction.
        Republican governor candidate Susana Martinez says it's time to take an approach modeled after a series of reforms put in place in Florida in 1999 that focus on more student testing, more money in the classrooms and curbing promotion of students who aren't making the grade.
        "What's not working is that we are not graduating 40 percent of our students from high school," Martinez said. "We keep increasing the budget, the education budget, but we are not getting any better at graduating students after four years of high school."
        The Democratic candidate for governor, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, says the state is showing gains in graduation rates, which indicates the Richardson administration policies are beginning to work. She said the policies deserve time. Denish would also beef up the state's approach to prekindergarten programs.
   

To see previous Journal stories on the New Mexico governor's race, click here.

    "The most recent graduation numbers, I think, show us that the trend numbers are right, especially for minorities," Denish said.
        New Mexico's class of 2009 had a 66 percent graduation rate, compared with 60 percent in 2008. Of the graduates who go on to New Mexico colleges, 47 percent need remedial classes, slightly down from the average between 2003 and 2008.
    Denish view
        Education is one of the few Richardson administrative efforts Denish has been intimately involved with, helping steer programs and policies through her Children's Cabinet, which she leads and which includes representatives from numerous state agencies. The cabinet has worked on career training, prekindergarten programs and after-school activities as major projects.
   

Highlights of Candidates' Proposals

Diane Denish • Beef up prekindergarten programs. • Continue recently implemented higher standards for math and science. • Expand the "first-born" program, in which the state contacts parents at hospitals when they give birth to their first child to explain state programs that can help the family, including early education options. • Raise pay for teachers, but link pay to student performance. • Include New Mexico in a national core standards program, especially because it is likely to include programs that would satisfy New Mexico's new higher math and science standards with such classes as financial literacy. • Increase partnerships with private businesses, nonprofits and universities to provide more technical and on-the-job skills for students in high school.

Susana Martinez • Increase student testing, with tests at the beginning, middle and end of each year. • Shift an $74 million more to classrooms by cutting it from the school district "bureaucracies." • Give each school a letter grade. • Give more attention to the 25 percent of lowest-performing schools. • Provide tax credits to businesses that donate money to private school scholarship programs. • Raise pay for teachers, but link pay to student performance. • Participate in a national core standards program, but only if the federal standards aren't lower than those in New Mexico. • Increase partnerships with private businesses, nonprofits and universities to provide more technical and on-the-job skills for students in high school.

    She said the graduation numbers show the state is moving in the right direction, but the real payoff from programs started over the past eight years have yet to arrive. She said early childhood program results won't show until 2013, and higher standards for math and science won't be seen for several more years.
        "We know from national data everywhere that early childhood (programs) are the best investment," Denish said.
        But Denish said upward trends don't mean the state can relax.
        "I think we can always improve. I am not satisfied. I think teacher training and principal leadership training are critical; we have to do better," Denish said.
    Martinez approach
        Martinez's approach, which closely mirrors a report from the Rio Grande Foundation, a conservative nonprofit organization, calls for tests at the beginning, middle and end of each year. Martinez said the testing can immediately identify poorly performing students and help them catch up before they fall too far behind and drop out.
        "You have to make sure the child is meeting the skills necessary for that grade level, but let's say they are a little behind. What progress is the child making throughout the year or the next year?" Martinez said.
        The testing method, also known as "short-cycle assessments," is already being used in some New Mexico school districts, including Albuquerque Public Schools. Teacher unions have spoken out against the short-cycle testing, saying it only furthers problems that schools have had with basing curriculum on passing tests, in contrast to learning useful skills.
        The plan also calls for schools to be given a letter grade and for the state to give more attention to the quarter of schools performing the most poorly. It encourages holding kids back a grade if they haven't met academic standards. In addition, Martinez said, she would shift an extra $74 million to classrooms by cutting it from the school district "bureaucracies."
    Core issues
        In interviews with the Journal, Denish spoke in depth about numerous programs and policies, spouted statistics and peppered her responses with anecdotes about student experiences in individual schools.
        The approach of Martinez, who has been a prosecutor in Las Cruces for more than 20 years, was more broad, sticking to her overall philosophical approach and the Florida reforms, which many Republican candidates around the country have touted as a model.
        A decade ago, 53 percent of Florida fourth-graders scored at a basic level on a national reading test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress. In 2009, that number had jumped to 73 percent.
        Hispanic students have been a driving force behind the gains. Florida's Hispanic students outscored their counterparts in every other state on fourth-grade reading and tied for the second-highest average score nationwide on eighth-grade reading and fourth-grade math. While achievement gaps persist in Florida, they have narrowed.
        Martinez repeatedly attacked New Mexico's low graduation rates and students' need for remedial classes.
        A Journal analysis last year of 23 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.
        At Santa Rosa High, only 12.2 percent of 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.
        Martinez said she would not support school vouchers in the traditional sense, which are promoted in the Florida system, but she would be willing to give tax credits to businesses that donate money to private school scholarship programs.
        Denish said there are already plenty of philanthropic organizations that provide scholarships, and the state's money should remain with public schools and charter schools in the system.
        Denish is gung-ho for including New Mexico in a national core standards program, especially because it includes programs that would satisfy New Mexico's new higher math and science standards with classes like financial literacy.
        Martinez said she would support participating in a national core standards program only if the federal standards aren't lower than those set up in New Mexico.
        The national core standards would dictate what benchmarks must be met for subjects like math and reading and at what grade level certain things are taught. Proponents say the standards will help to ensure that students, no matter where they live, will receive the same quality of education.
        Both candidates said they support higher pay for teachers but only if salaries were linked to student performance. Neither would allow education cuts in the state budget.
        Both also support extensive partnerships with private businesses, nonprofits and universities to provide more technical and on-the-job skills for students in high school.
       

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