Daily Times, The (Farmington, NM)
April 4, 2011
HEADLINE: Local schools face a real test

By Jenny Kane

FARMINGTON - Let the tests begin.

Farmington Municipal Schools is just one of the many districts across New Mexico to begin standardized testing today. Although the series of exams for years has determined schools' statuses, as related to the No Child Left Behind Act, this year the tests carry more weight than ever.

Since 2001 the Standardized Assessment Program determined whether schools passed or failed the requirements for the No Child Left Behind Act, a bill that allocates money to schools based on their performance.

Now, the tests will also settle which letter grade New Mexico schools receive from the state, and also whether the state's high school students can graduate. For an area in which none of the four local school districts can meet the Public Education Department math or reading requirements, the stakes are high.

"It's difficult when you're just looking at a test that takes a snapshot," said Farmington assistant superintendent Robert Emerson.

Fair or not, the snapshot is this: The Department of Education stated in 2010 that 76.7 percent of New Mexico schools did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress requirements in 2010. Farmington, Central Consolidated, Aztec and Bloomfield were among the schools that fell short.

Local educators are concerned that a greater focus on the outcome of the state tests will have repercussions for their schools, and for their students. Students who fare poorly the first time have two more chances to pass all five sections of the exam. If they fail, they could be held back.

Graduation rates could drop, depending on how the tests are graded. The Farmington district graduation rate was 66.6 percent in 2010. In Central Consolidated it was 60.5 percent; in Aztec, 67.1 percent; and in Bloomfield, 67.4 percent.

In years prior, students might have been able to skirt consequences for failure in state testing categories. This year failure in any one section will leave high school students without a degree. The Public Education Department has not yet decided how it will determine who passes.

"I think they're going to look at how the kids do," Emerson said, and the Public Education Department will likely assess the results before deciding what is fair.

The testing requirement is likely to hit Hispanic and American Indian high school students the hardest.

In all four main districts, the percentage of American Indian and Hispanic students meeting standards was considerably lower than that of the overall population. Caucasian students had the highest pass rate.

Although about 45 percent of Caucasian students in Farmington failed to meet math standards, 73 percent of African American students failed, along with 64 percent of Hispanic students and about 71.4 percent of American Indian students.

Other districts saw similar figures. In Central Consolidated schools, about 34 percent of Caucasian students fell short of math standards, alongside 39 percent of Hispanic students and about 62 percent of American Indian students. There were not enough African American students for accurate statistics.

Many teachers attribute the struggles of Hispanic and American Indian students in state testing to their multilingual upbringing and cultural differences.

"We have to more honest about educating the whole child," said Central Consolidated finance director Byron Manning. He and other school officials broached such issues with New Mexico secretary of education nominee Hanna Skandera last week in Shiprock.

Educators also expressed concern about at-risk, English-learning and disabled students in state testing. The system, many of them said, simply does not cater to the individual.

"It's a convoluted system," Emerson said.

This year schools are trying to motivate students to do well, even though there is no grading incentive, Farmington director of secondary curriculum Chris Pash said.

The students will continue testing all week. Third-, fourth-, fifth-,seventh-, and 11th-graders will be tested at their grade level in the subjects of math, reading, science, social studies, and writing. Not all grades are tested in all subjects.

Each year, the districts discuss how to best break up the testing of each age group. Starting today, elementary school children will be tested for two weeks straight. Their tests are broken into shorter times over a longer period in order to cater to their short attention spans.

The middle and high school students will be tested over three days, so as not to break up the school curriculum too much.

Farmington, along with many other schools, chose to test this week to allow students to recover from Spring Break malaise. However, some schools, such as those in CCSD, have already finished. The state requries schools to complete testing by April 22.