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Saturday, January 01, 2011
Choice Key to School Turnaround
By Daniel Ulibarri
Executive Director, Educate New Mexico
There is no doubt that the Legislature and incoming governor must tackle the deficit in the upcoming session. After that, it would seem that many people across New Mexico agree that K-12 education reform is absolutely imperative.
Educate New Mexico has been a leader in helping kids in the Land of Enchantment attain educational success. Educate New Mexico is a non-profit organization that offers K-12 scholarships for moderate income families to attend the school of their choice.
Ninety-five students have received diplomas through our program, which has been around since the 2000-01 school year. The students in our program graduate at a rate of 100 percent. This compares quite favorably with the state's graduation rate, which barely exceeds 50 percent.
Clearly, something we are doing is working.
In reforming education in New Mexico, policymakers — strapped for cash as they are — must focus on proven successes. Providing choice in the form of education tax credits is one solution that works. But it is not the only way to reform education.
More than 10 years ago, Florida enacted a variety of education reforms, including school choice. These reforms have resulted in fantastic gains in academic achievement in that state.
Specifically, on the respected National Assessment of Educational Progress, Florida's fourth-graders as a group scored at about the same level as New Mexico students back in 1998 before the reforms took effect. In 2009, the last year in which the test was administered, Florida's fourth-graders outscored New Mexico's by approximately two grade levels!
That's a huge change in a short period of time, and Florida's Hispanic students have led the turnaround.
What did Florida do?
Simply put, Florida enacted a variety of reforms, but always with the common goal of increasing accountability, providing incentives for success, and empowering parents and their children.
Specifically, Florida:
• Has the most robust school-choice programs in the nation;
• Enacted a school grading system based on the straightforward A-F model so that parents and the community can clearly understand how well or poorly their school is doing;
• Banned social promotion (kids who do not understand the material are not merely passed along, but are held back and receive additional academic attention);
• Adopted an innovative "virtual schooling" model that enables literally hundreds of subject areas to be taught that are not available in traditional schools. The companies that manage the teaching of these online classes are only paid if the student actually learns the material;
• Created a robust system for alternative teacher certification that enables schools to have greater leeway than is currently permitted in finding and hiring qualified experts and training them to teach.
Rather than re-inventing the wheel, New Mexico policymakers should embrace Florida's success. We don't have to do exactly what Florida has done, but we need to do something, and we have found that giving parents of modest means a choice increases the chances of their child's success.
Not only can New Mexico's children not wait another eight years or more for the schools to improve, but our economy needs — now more than ever — a competent, highly-educated work force and schools that will attract entrepreneurs from across the globe. Today's tough economy and tight budgetary environment mean that reform must mean more than additional spending.
Florida has shown us the way. It is time for our newly-elected leaders to navigate the path.
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