SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – New Mexico students have made gains in math and reading during the past six years, but about three-fourths of schools missed the latest targets for boosting student achievement, the Public Education Department announced Monday.
The number of schools that didn't reach the goal of making “adequate yearly progress,” or AYP, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act increased from last year, but state officials said that's because state-established student achievement targets were much higher this year.
According to the latest testing information, 644 schools, or 77.9 percent, didn't reach the goals for increasing student performance. That's up from 560 schools, or 68.2 percent, last year.
The improvement objectives were met by 183 schools, or 22.1 percent. That compares with 261 schools, or 31.8 percent, last year.
Schools are evaluated mainly on student performance and participation in math and reading tests administered in grades three to eight and grade 11. Other factors in the ratings are graduation rates for high schools and attendance rates for elementary and middle schools.
Under the federal law, states are to increase their performance targets each year until 100 percent of students are proficient on tests by the 2013-2014 school year.
To make the progress goal this year, a school with kindergarten through the eighth grade needed 51 percent of its students to be at proficiency or above in math – up from 44 percent last year. Sixty-four percent needed to meet the performance standard in reading, up from 60 percent last year.
“So it's those moving targets that can give a false sense to communities that schools are failing when in essence they are progressing in terms of growth,” said Education Secretary Susanna Murphy.
There's an upward trend in student performance, she said. In math, 42 percent of students statewide were at or above proficiency in 2009-2010 – up from 30 percent in 2004-2005. In reading, 53 percent of students were proficient or better – up from 50 percent in 2004-2005, but down from 55 percent last year.
Achievement in science has increased by 6 percentage points in the last six years, but those state tests are not used for the federal assessment of schools.
A school will not meet the adequate yearly progress goal if any one of several subgroups of students – black, white, Hispanic, American Indian, “economically disadvantaged” or poor, special education and students with limited English language skills – fail to meet performance or participation targets on tests.
There remains an “achievement gap” among ethnic and racial groups. White and Asian students typically fare better in tests than Hispanics, Indians and blacks. However, the department said Indians had narrowed the gap in some areas, such as third grade math.
–––
Online:
http://www.ped.state.nm.us/