NM schools making the grade

The report cards are in.

The final grades for New Mexico schools using a brand new grading system were released Monday. These are the first official grades using the system after the state received a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act.

The system uses several factors, including attendance, academic growth, college readiness and parent involvement.

Overall, officials seemed to be pleased with the report.

The preliminary grades were released in January and about 65 percent of New Mexico schools either maintained or improved their grades.

In the Las Cruces Public Schools District, that positive pattern was clear with only six schools getting lower grades, including Las Cruces High and Oate High. Both schools went from Bs to Cs.

Meanwhile, Mayfield High improved from a D to a C.

In the district, the majority of schools received Cs with 14. 11 schools received either Bs or Ds. Only 2 schools received As, but no schools in the district received Fs.

District spokeswoman Jo Galvan told ABC-7 the new system is a much more accurate look at how these schools are doing.

“I think it’s showing that this was theright decision to make from the governor and the state. If we hadcontinued to follow the AYP, 98 percent of schools in New Mexico wouldnot have made AYP this year. So it’s saying 98 percent are failing. With these scores and a letter grade, it’s certain that 98 percent ofour schools are not failing,” Galvan said.

Some schools in the district even improved by two letter grades or more.

“Overall, middle schools did really well. So we were really proud ofthat and specifically University Hills. They went from an F to a B.That’s a substantial gain they have to make. Many letter grades isvery hard to do,” Galvan said.

Several schools also made that multi-letter jump including Camino Real Middle, Picacho Middle, and Sierra Middle Schools. All three improved from Ds to Bs.

“It’s easier for parents to understand A, B, C, D, F. That’s how manypeople grew up in getting their report cards at home,” Galvan said.

Galvan said it’s important for parents to get involved with their children’s learning to improve their individual grades and their school grades.

“The more participation you have at home, the better your child will doin school and vice versa. So we hope parents will really start to hearthat message,” Galvan said.

Mayfield High Principal Jo Beth Hawk told ABC-7 her school was devastated when they got a D in the preliminary report, but it pushed them to work that much harder.

“You never would ask for something like that to happen to you, but itturned out to be a good thing for us because we got into some verydeep conversations about change. How can we create change?” Hawk said.

Hawk admits she and her staff are still getting used to all the factors in the new system and have plenty of questions about how it works, but she said it’s been a great benefit to her school so far.

Here is the list of grades for the Las Cruces Public Schools District:

School: 2011 2012 Alameda E.S. A D BT Washington E.S. D D Central E.S. C C Cesar Chavez E.S. D B Columbia E.S. D D Conlee E.S. F D Desert Hills E.S. A B Doa Ana E.S. D C East Picacho E.S. D C Fairacres E.S. C C Hermosa Heights E.S. D D Highland E.S. C A Hillrise E.S. B C Jornada E.S. D C Loma Heights E.S. D D MacArthur E.S. D D Mesilla E.S. C D Mesilla Park E.S. C C Monte Vista E.S. A A Sonoma E.S. B B Sunrise E.S. C B Tombaugh E.S. C C University Hills E.S. F B Valley View E.S. F D White Sands E.S. D B Camino Real M.S. D B Lynn M.S. C B Mesa M.S. D D Picacho M.S. D B Sierra M.S. D B Vista M.S. D C White Sands M.S. D (AYP C) B Zia M.S. C C Early College H.S. NA C San Andres H.S. F D Las Cruces H.S. B C Mayfield H.S. D C Oate H.S. B C