Not making the grade

ALBUQUERQUE -- The state released its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) report today, and as in years past, it paints a bleak picture of public education in New Mexico.

Only 23 of Albuquerque Public Schools' 157 schools made AYP this year, versus 46 that made it last year. In Rio Rancho, only two elementary schools made AYP versus six of the district's 15 schools that made it last year.

All told, 245 of the state's 770 schools met the standard this year, compared to 368 schools last year, according to the state Public Education Department.

State Public Education Secretary Veronica Garcia said that over the last four years statewide student achievement scores have gone up and pointed to that fact as reason to change the federal No Child Left Behind act, she said.

"We are on a steadily increasing trajectory – yet somehow, we have more schools not meeting AYP," she said. "This speaks to the much needed changes to the NCLB Act."

On Friday, the state also announced that the achievement gap in math and reading -- the gap between how minority children and their Anglo counterparts perform -- continues to widen despite gains by Hispanic, Native American, and economically disadvantaged students. "In part, this is because, as our minority students perform better, our Caucasian students also continue to perform better," a state public education department release said.

Both Albuquerque and Rio Rancho districts cautioned parents and concerned citizens of judging a school's ultimate success on the NCLB and AYP. That's because each year the standards for showing improvement increase. This year, schools were expected to make a 14 percent increase in reading and math scores in order to reach adequate yearly progress.

APS Superintendent Winston Brooks, who took the helm of the state's largest school district just a month ago, said AYP numbers are not the only measure of success. But he did say that these numbers are something to "build on for the future."

APS schools showed a 12 percent improvement in math and reading on average over last year. Those were significant gains, Brooks said.

APS schools, Mission Valley, Navajo and Petroglyph elementary schools met AYP this year for the first time, as did Sandia High School.

Schools can still appeal their AYP status based on certain criteria.

Rio Rancho Public Schools spokeswoman Kim Vesely said the district is most concerned about improving the scores of students with special needs. The progress of those students, she said, is one measure among many that a school must meet to achieve AYP, and preliminary analysis of the data suggests that many schools did not make AYP because of low scores from special needs students.

Superintendent Sue Cleveland said the district is already taking steps to improve special needs students' scores, including bringing in an outside expert and having successful teachers collaborate with other special education teachers on strategies that are working at their schools.

Vesely said that last year the AYP status of many schools changed when some of the criteria -- including the scores of special needs children -- were challenged.

"In no way should parents look at these NCLB numbers and place a label of `failing' on their children's schools," Vesely said. "I think our internal data will show that we have made significant gains in reading and math. It's just not enough to keep up with what the NCLB is requiring."

For detail reports on how individual schools did on meeting AYP, go here. The PED also has an extensive question and answer section to describe how AYP works and why it becomes increasingly more difficult to meet AYP.

Garcia said she hopes the AYP "pass-fail" labels do not demoralize teachers and students. She said the numbers should instead motivate them to continue to improve.

"I also caution against state to state comparison of AYP results because states set their own proficiency cut scores and design their own tests," she said. "New Mexico sets the bar high."

New Mexico has the 16th-highest standards for meeting AYP in the country, according to the state public education department. Schools are evaluated mainly on student performance and participation in math and reading tests administered in grades 3-9 and grade 11. Other factors are graduation rates for high schools and attendance rates for elementary and middle schools.

School testing data also must be organized to measure the performance of not only the entire student body but designated subgroups— special education students, English- language learners, economically disadvantaged students, and the ethnic groups of American Indian/Alaskan native, Asian/Pacific Islander, black, Hispanic and white.

If a school does not meet standards in even one group, the entire school is designated as not meeting adequate yearly progress.

By 2014, under the NCLB schools must have 100 percent proficiency in math and reading in order to make AYP status, a goal that most educators find unrealistic.

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