August 2009

Opportunities and Challenges in the Year Ahead…..

As we begin another school year, there’s a welcome change in the conversations about public schools. This new tone is one of more respect for the work we do, more realistic about the resources (or lack of) that have been made available to our schools, and a challenge about how to ensure that our students are well-prepared for college and career when they leave high school.

This summer, I attended my first meeting of the Education Commission of the States (www.ecs.org).   Commissioners are appointed by the Governor of each state and represent legislators, school boards, business community, K-12 educators, higher ed and the governor’s office. This diverse group comes together annually to discuss education and this year’s conference was certainly an interesting one.

Dr. Richard Elmore started us off by recognizing that over the past several years, public schools have been expected to “jump higher” without the necessary resources and training to do so.  He stated that “For every unit of performance I require of you, I must invest an equal unit of resources.” Dr. Elmore said that by focusing on getting kids prepared for the test, we are driving instruction down to the lowest levels due to the incentive structure built into AYP. “We need higher targets”, he said, “and lower stakes.” He also challenged us to make sure that all students are exposed to higher level work, even if some adults don’t think they have the basics. “We must make student success our priority.”

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan engaged in a “town hall” style meeting in a pre-RA session in San Diego. In discussions about charter schools and pay for performance, he talked about the necessity of working with teachers- engaging in change with us, not doing it to us. “We are not going to impose reform but rather work with teachers, principals and unions to find what works.” Read more at www.nea-nm.org.

Here at home, many of you saw the report of the LFC indicating that the 3 tiered licensure system, developed with the full participation of teacher unions, was not effective in improving student achievement. What you may not have seen was the response of the NM Office of Accountability refuting these claims. Some of the issues raised in this response included the lack of long-term data (the report only considered 1 year’s test scores), the limited data  (only teachers of grades 4, 5 and 6 were included), and many concerns around the conclusions that were drawn from this limited data.

Another study this year by the Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math Education concluded that student demographics, including ethnicity, socio-economic status and prior performance, were significant predictors of student achievement as measured by standardized test scores. Many analyses have shown that in New Mexico, school and student demographics by themselves explain 50% to 70% of score variance in this state.  While most of us know this to be true based on our own experiences, I welcome the research to prove it. When we look at student demographics in NM, it turns out that most of our students score just where they would be predicted to score.  It seems clear to me that we are doing our job as well as can be expected with the resources we have available to us, and with the investment the state has made in public education to date.

So you may be wondering, “What does all this mean for us?” It means we are right on target in fighting for sufficient funding for our schools, funding guaranteed by the NM Constitution. Clearly we need additional resources targeting communities with high numbers of students living in poverty, with high minority populations and students who are English language learners. We need extended learning opportunities, a well rounded curriculum, and highly qualified teachers and education support professionals who are committed to making a difference for our kids earning professional salaries.

I am confident that we recognize the challenges and the opportunities ahead of us and that we will all do our part to meet them. That means contacting our state legislators about the need for sufficient funding. It means emailing your Congressman about the changes needed in NCLB and health care reform. It means doing all we can in our classrooms and schools to make sure all students succeed.  The time to take action is NOW! We must continue to make our voices heard by policymakers at all levels!

I hope you have a great new school year as we work to provide a great public school for every student in New Mexico! Together, we do make a difference for our students and for education employees.

Sharon

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