97% Of Las Cruces Schools Fail AYP

Nearly 97 percent of Las Cruces Public Schools campuses this year did not make Adequate Yearly Progress set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to the New Mexico Public Education Department’s results released Friday.

But Las Cruces Public School District officials say it is not nearly as bad as it sounds.

Spokeswoman Jo Galvan said the results in no way indicate that LCPS is failing in education. Instead, Galvan said, the standards are continually raised so high to the point they are simply unattainable.

“I think teachers specifically understand that not making AYP doesn’t mean they’re not doing a good job and the kids aren’t learning,” Galvan said. “They recognize that they really have to know specific data about where it is kids aren’t being proficient.”

District officials were not at all surprised the data show only 3 percent of LCPS campuses made AYP in the 2010-2011 school year.

“One of the reasons is because the bar continues to change,” Galvan said. “You’re running a race and doing really well but the finish line continues to move forward. So, even though we have a lot of growth in our schools and they’re making improvements, the next year they’re still not close enough because now the bar’s even higher. And that’s why year after year you’re gonna have fewer and fewer schools making AYP.”

AYP represents the annual academic standards schools must reach primarily in math and reading to be considered on track with the federally mandated goal of 100 percent proficiency by the 2013-14 school year.

“By not making it doesn’t mean they’re failing,” Galvan said. “It means there’s somewhere within that school community that needs help, but it does not equate to an F-graded school.”

Out of 35 schools in the Las Cruces Public Schools district, only one, White Sands Middle School, made AYP.

This compares with three schools that made AYP last year — Hillrise, Loma Heights and Mesilla elementary schools.

In the Gadsden Independent School District, two schools made AYP this year, and in the Albuquerque Public Schools district, five schools made AYP this year.

None of the schools in the Rio Rancho Public Schools district met AYP standards.

Statewide, 87 percent of schools did not make AYP..

Only 42 percent of New Mexico students perform at grade level in math and science, and only half are proficient in reading, according to PED.

Deborah Reece, a teacher at Booker T. Washington Elementary School, said the results give a false impression of how students are doing in the classroom.

“We are making gains. There’s a lot of kids who are doing great, but they keep raising the bar so every year it gets higher and that’s why we’re not meeting AYP,” Reece said.

Gov. Susana Martinez said that the state Education Department will submit a waiver this fall to the U.S. Department of Education to replace the No Child Left Behind ranking with New Mexico’s own A through F letter grading system.

This is a way for the state to better expand on education reform while still raising standards for students, Martinez said.

“We will be moving in the right direction as soon as we start to implement the education reform we’ve been proposing,” Martinez said. “We can’t afford to continue to be at the bottom level of math, science and reading.”