The education system across New Mexico is continuing struggle, leaving many students not meeting expectations in the classroom.
New data from the 2021 New Mexico KIDS COUNT Data Book exposes most students in Doña Ana County are not proficient in English and math.
The numbers spark reason for concern as the state of New Mexico continues to rank almost dead last in education.
The Kids Count Data Book is released each year. The most recent report goes over standardized testing for 4th and 8th graders.
In the Las Cruces Public School District, 26 percent of fourth-graders met expectations in English language arts, while only 11 percent of eighth graders were proficient in math.
Not much different in the Gadsden Independent School District, but a smidge better, where 28 percent of fourth-graders were proficient in English and language arts and 17 percent of eighth-graders met expectations in math.
KFOX14 went over this data with leaders in both districts.
It makes you concerned,” Travis Dempsey, the superintendent for GISD said. “We’ve got to address academics, we’ve gotta set a higher academic standard and we’ve got to make sure our students are getting the very best academic instruction they possibly can get.
“We need to be doing a better job, across the board. The district has been keenly aware that those numbers are slipping, we hear repeatedly from frustrated parents that it’s not okay to be last,” Kelly Jameson, the spokesperson for LCPS said.
If we look back to 2018’s data book, the numbers are still low.
For LCPS, 24 percent of fourth-graders then met expectations in English language arts, while 9 percent of eighth graders were proficient in math.
According to this data, the numbers show what the district is doing isn’t working. So KFOX14 asked Jameson what they are doing to address the problem or what have they changed to combat the issue?
Some of the things that are available to the district now include additional funding in the area of added supports, we’re looking at extending some tutoring opportunities. Whether that’s added reinforcement inside the classroom throughout the day, whether that’s extended learning and adding some things after the school day, helping our parents at home tap into additional resources that they have to assist our students in the classroom,” Jameson said. “We understand that the pandemic has affected our students across the board, it’s affected teachers, it’s affected administrators, this is a time where we all need to pull together to figure out what’s in the best interest of our students.
Same for GISD, the numbers in the 2018 data book in regards to proficiency are not even close to 50 percent.
The superintendent for GISD said they’re making changes too.
“We’re revamping almost all of our curriculum for English language arts,” Dempsey said.
On top of this, he said they’re hiring therapists to address social-emotional needs and have implemented a new grading scale.
“We’re trying to address a true standards-based curriculum and move away from what might be considered an inflated grading scale,” Dempsey said. “It’s been a little controversial just to be real candid with you because parents and students who are very accustomed to receiving A’s and B’s, might now be receiving C’s.”
But regardless of the low proficiency rates, the dropout rate for LCPS is 1 percent and 2 percent for GISD, and the graduation rate is over 80 percent for both districts.
“It makes you question, why are we seeing low proficiency rates, but high graduation rates and I think after researching it, we felt like we have an inflated grading system and we’ve got to change that,” Dempsey said.
KFOX14 asked Jameson if she felt LCPS was just passing students just to pass them, based on the low proficiency numbers and high graduation rates.
“No. If you talk to any teacher in our district, their number one job is to make sure our students are prepared to move on to the next grade level,” Jameson said.
If you have concerns or negative experiences in the education systems throughout Doña Ana County, KFOX14 wants to hear about them.
Send them to Reporter Salina Madrid’s email at smmadrid@kfoxtv.com
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