OPINION: State leaders must address severity of education data

Jul. 24—In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the city of New Orleans coalesced around a new educational system that focused on improved outcomes for students. The system started with vision and commitment. According to former Louisiana State Superintendent of Education John White, "The state had to be in the game and conversations about schools." Louisiana worked with a targeted sense of urgency and did what was right for kids. The state has years of data that prove their efforts successful. New Mexico can do this without a hurricane. In our state, we sometimes prioritize relationships over outcomes. I see this at every level of government. We have years of data that should indicate we are in a state of emergency, but instead we continue celebrating the relationships within our educational environment rather than strategically trying for change. Change is hard. But knowing year after year that most of our children can't read requires that we change. What's more, we must make bold systematic steps rooted in both funding and accountability. We can love our students and must build quality relationships with them, but without providing them with an excellent education, is the love in vain? When I took an in-depth look into the last two decades in New Mexico's education, two highlights stood out. Between 2003 and 2007, New Mexico's students made great strides on NAEP in both reading and math. Between 2009 and 2011, New Mexico joined Washington, D.C., Hawaii, and Rhode Island as the only states to show improvement in students' math scores in both 4th and 8th grades. By 2018, when the rigor of our state standards increased and PARCC was used as the assessment to measure learning, 11,000 more students statewide were doing math on grade level and 13,000 more students were reading on grade-level than in 2015. In both cases of this success, the leaders in our state had a clear vision that included an understanding of the reality of current conditions and an awareness of the opportunity. After Katrina, New Orleans fought to increase access to high-performing schools and to close their lowest-performing schools, because that is what was best for kids. In New Mexico, we too must make decisions that are best for kids. Our kids need our help now. I call on our leaders at every level of the system to be accountable for where students are at today and to collaborate on creating a vision. We must discuss the severity of the data that has made me cry at my local board meeting, because I could picture the faces of the students that we are failing. We must inform families about what the data actually means behind the numbers so they can become an informed partner in education. And we must implement systems that are effective and cohesive across our grade levels and schools. Once we do this, we will be able to take ownership of our current state and more importantly move forward with a sense of urgency.