Tests show proficiency problems, achievement gap in New Mexico

Deborah Baker:

Tests taken by nearly 195,000 New Mexico students this spring showed problems with proficiency in reading, math and science and an ongoing achievement gap among ethnic groups.

State Education Secretary Veronica Garcia, who announced the results Thursday, said the state's "rigorous standards are challenging our students."

This year's tests were new and tougher, and more students took them, so comparisons with prior years are invalid, Garcia said.

The department had announced in early August that based in part on the test scores, about 54 percent of schools did not make so-called adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Students in grades 3-9 and 11 took the tests in reading and math, and those in 3-9 also were tested in science.

Well over half the students were less than proficient in math. The third graders did best, with 43 percent of them ranked at or above proficient. At the other end of the scale, not even 20 percent of students in grade 7 were proficient or better.

"It's clear that we must focus on mathematics," said Patricia Parkinson, the Public Education Department's assistant secretary for instructional support.

In reading, the highest proficiency levels occurred in grades 5 and 11, where about 56 percent of the students ranked at or above proficient. The low was 41 percent in grade 6.

In science, third graders ranked highest, with nearly 77 percent of them proficient or better; the low was 25 percent proficient in grade 8.

There are four performance levels: advanced, proficient, nearing proficiency and beginning step.

Garcia said she was encouraged by the substantial number of students in all grades at the "nearing proficiency" level.

"With a little bit of a boost, these children will get there," Garcia said.

The testing showed sizable achievement gaps in the areas of ethnicity, income level, disability and English-language learning, education officials said.

In general, Anglo and Asian students fared better than Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, although Garcia said it appears Native American students "are beginning to inch ahead."

Education secretary optimistic about test results