By J. TAUBWhat a glowing picture of education in New Mexico as presented by Governor Martinez in her April 2 announcement of changes to the teacher evaluation system – what many teachers feel is a tiny step in the right direction to simply superficial.
Reading on through her missive, what should I believe – the Governor’s rosy picture of public education in New Mexico, or various education review evaluations that appear annually? For instance, the one reported on by Kim Burgess, Jan. 4, 2017, Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer, Study: NM ranks 49th in quality of education.
Such stellar achievements as:
- Ranking 49th since 2014 in a national review of “measures like high school graduation rates, Advanced Placement exam results, school finances and pre-K enrollment.”
- 50th place for standardized test scores.
- 50th place for 4th grade reading
- 47th for 8th grade math
- 50th in a 13-item metric which suggests lifetime success odds considering such issues as family poverty levels, parent education, high school graduation, steady employment.
- Only 39 percent of New Mexico’s children live in a household where at least one parent has more than a high school diploma. This also relates to poverty and economic limitations that affect parental resources to support a child.
Los Alamos schools and students, overall, may be in a different situation than the rest of the state, but letting the Governor’s sunny comments go unchallenged leaves an unrealistic picture of education in this state, and slithers right over the incredible canyons of deficits (not all financial) critical to making substantial changes/improvements.
Her glowing picture is at significant odds with available, historical, non-partisan, comparative data. Gov. Martinez’ long-gone campaign rhetoric included promises to improve education, but the clarity of hindsight shows us she was simply telling people what they wanted to hear. She clearly hasn’t delivered on her promise. Her ‘support’ has been passive – photo ops and lip service, while her simultaneous actions have included such ‘support’ as gutting education financing. Seems her view of the world has the same disconnect with reality as the new person in the White House.
