Education

NEA estimates McCain pricetag

Today is National Teacher Appreciation Day, and that's great for this year. But a report out by the National Education Association (NEA) asserts there will be less to appreciate about next year if John McCain is elected president.

Widening income gap partly due to NM's high illiteracy rate

The income gap has increased in New Mexico, according to a report released last week. According to some, one reason for the growing inequality may be found in the state’s shift to a knowledge-based economy at the same time that a sizable portion of adult New Mexicans are functionally illiterate.

Historic Santa Fe Indian School in ruins

The turn-of-the-century buildings at the Santa Fe Indian School have been a part of the drive along Santa Fe's Cerrillos Road for the duration of the lifetime of virtually everyone alive in Santa Fe today.

So it's easy to relate to the shock described by those who witnessed their demolition without warning over several days last week. I felt it just seeing the pictures, several of which were posted by George Johnson on his blog, The Santa Fe Review, under the apt title "Indian Ruins."

Curbing big pharma

Students at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center helped the facility join a national movement to keep pharmaceutical salesmen at arms-length. The conflict of interest policy approved last month means no more free lunches or tickets to a baseball game, no more T-shirts or ball caps emblazoned with "Lipitor" or "Viagra." And now the students are talking about having an "amnesty day," when they can return all the schwag they've accepted in the past.

Home Hiving

Backyard beekeeping makes sense in light of widespread reports of "mysterious" bee colony collapse. It makes just as much sense as it does to grow one's own vegetables and fruits. And because pollinators of all types are threatened by pesticides, genetically modified crops and other industrial farming methods, "we as members of the community need to pick up the slack," says one local expert.

Not making the grade

The state released its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report today. As in years past, it paints a bleak picture. Only 23 of Albuquerque Public Schools' 157 schools made AYP this year, versus 46 last year. In Rio Rancho, two elementary schools met the standard versus six of the district's 15 schools last year. All told, 245 of the state's 770 schools met AYP, compared to 368 last year.

Albuquerque high schools go from big to small, reflecting a trend

With its 90,000-plus student enrollment, Albuquerque Public Schools is anything but small. It's one of the largest in the nation, in fact. But starting this year $9.1 million in federal dollars will help make the district a little more intimate. The money will go toward nestling Small Learning Communities -- an educational model that has been slow to arrive in New Mexico -- within seven APS high schools, officials said.

Cradles of hope, with love to Africa

School first, driving second

Under an initiative unveiled last week by Gov. Bill Richardson, beginning next year, students who are eligible for their learner's permit at age 15 will have to prove they are proficient in reading and math in eighth grade and then when they move on to high school they must have at least a 90 percent attendance rate in ninth grade before they can get a driver's license.

N.M. History 101

Former Lt. Gov. Roberto Mondragon and educator Georgia Roybal have worked for 17 years to get a textbook of New Mexico history published and distributed in schools statewide. It will become a reality this fall. Mondragon’s and Roybal’s nonprofit group, Semos Unlimited, is rejuvenated and back to the task of completing the textbook. It will be published as a pilot project at the Atrisco Heritage Academy (AHA) high school this fall.

Charting a new way

What started in 1988 as an idea outlined on a napkin at an educational conference in Minnesota has grown into a full-fledged educational revolution touching thousands of students, parents, and teachers across America.

The standardized test box

Albuquerque Public School board member Robert Lucero took a lot of heat in Tuesday's Albuquerque Journal Letters to the Editor section over comments he made on KOAT-TV, Channel 7, regarding an Amy Biehl Charter School 's artwork.

He said in a TV interview that the $80,000 appropriated by the state to have a bronze statue of the Tara Jo McDonough's artwork done was "a monument to stupidity." He says that state money could be used in better ways.

Politicizing higher education

What is “traditional American history,” and who decides what it might be? The White House has vigorously promoted the notion of a kind of “getting back to basics” when it comes to teaching American history. But it doesn’t say what “traditional American history” is. In an informal search of recent literature on the subject, I could not find a single definition of the term. Is that because the conservative idea of traditional American history might be too inflammatory to be disclosed?

You, too, can watch your electricity meter go backward

A foundation that teaches organic agriculture and sustainable living in Costa Rica has sought to apply "wise use" principles to its Albuquerque office. Founder Franklin Wilson -- who says the foundation has cut its energy use and produces power that is sold back to PNM -- wants to spread the word that anyone can pretty much do the same. In fact, he says, it's "rather easy."

King to sign shield law letter

State Attorney General Gary King will be signing a letter of support for a federal shield law for journalists this week.

If 36 state attorneys general sign on, the National Association of Attorneys General has said it will officially support the legislation at the national level, and possibly break a logjam in the U.S. Senate on S. 2035, the Free Flow of Information Act.

NM has second-worst graduation rate in nation, new report says

A new report out shows that New Mexico has the second-worst graduation rate in the country.

 

According to the report, which is in Education Week, fewer students in New Mexico's class of 2005 graduated with their peers than students in virtually every other state in the union, except Nevada.

Here's an excerpt from the report:

 

Nationwide, about 71 percent of 9th graders make it to graduation four years later, according to data on the class of 2005, the latest available. That figure drops to 58 percent for Hispanics, 55 percent for African-Americans, and only 51 percent for Native Americans. While more than eight in 10 students graduate on time in Iowa, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, that rate drops to fewer than six in 10 in the District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, and South Carolina.

 

The press release announcing the report also has a link to a cool map that allows you to see what the graduation rates are for local districts.

 

Reading, writing and financial literacy

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish wants to require high school students to take a financial literacy course in order to graduate.

Today's Top Stories: Juarez death toll nears 800

Mexico notebook: Obama on bilingualism

"Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English -- they'll learn English -- you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual."

 

After reading Barack Obama's above response to a discussion about "English-only" legislation, my traveling companion said his view of the presidential candidate "just went up."

 

I'm guessing impressions of Obama went up for people all over the world.

 

What Obama said merely points out the obvious in the eyes of many outside of the United States. He said: "We should have every child speaking more than one language."

Atrisco out to prove cynics wrong

Writing assignments are to most ninth-graders what root canals are to you and me. Necessary evils. Let the root canals begin, I thought when I asked my ninth-grade media literacy students to write in their journals every day. I anticipated a lot of push-back from my students about this assignment, and I got some of that. But I also got some of this: "I was a scared shy daughter. I remember my dad yelling, calling me names and hitting me for no reason. I heard beer cans opening and lighters flicking. … I worried that my family and I were in danger. I’m only one person and I think the world is cruel sometimes. I will prove my dad wrong. I choose to be who I am, I dream that everything’s OK. …”