The Daily Times (Farmington, New Mexico) July 1, 2010

HEADLINE: New law hopes to close achievement gap for Hispanic students

By Elizabeth Piazza

FARMINGTON - The number of Hispanic students who graduate from Farmington Municipal Schools continues to fall below the state and national average, officials said.

Sixty-one percent of Hispanic students graduate in the district, compared to the state average of 66 percent and an overall national average of 70 percent, said Danielle Montoya, spokeswoman for the New Mexico Public Education Department.

State officials are hoping the Hispanic Education Act, a new law that went into effect Thursday, will offer a more cohesive voice to the Hispanic community throughout New Mexico and address issues to improve achievement gaps.

"The main thing (the Hispanic Education Act) did was formalize community engagement and the community voice in crafting public policy," Montoya said.

Nearly 56 percent of students in New Mexico are Hispanic. The law requires officials to create a formal advisory council and a Hispanic Education Liaison to focus on education policy and develop strategies to improve achievement.

The liaison will work with the advisory council to serve as a resource for the 89 school districts throughout the state, Montoya said.

The act also requires the Public Education Department to provide an annual report on the status of Hispanic education.

Officials will track college remediation and retention rates in New Mexico and throughout the United States in addition to other statistics such as graduation and drop-out rates.

"It will help us come up with solutions," said Montoya of the data analysis.

More than 2,800 Hispanic students attend Farmington schools, from preschool through 12th grade.

Yet despite the lower graduation rate, Gayle Barfoot, director of the bilingual education program in Farmington Municipal Schools, believes the district's Hispanic programs remain strong.

"Our Hispanic students are progressing quite well," Barfoot said. "Generally speaking, Hispanic students really lag behind the Caucasian population, but not here. They do very well."

The school district does a "nice job of integrating those immigrant students in school," said Barfoot. "We have a really good program here for Hispanic students and Native American students both for home language and English academic acquisition."

The district also requires every new teacher to become certified to teach English as a second language within five years of becoming employed.

The district is cognizant of the obstacles Hispanic students face in school and "we are making progress," Barfoot said. "The new law will only strengthen our focus on the Hispanic community."