Las Cruces Public Schools Receive Low Grades

In a report released earlier today, a majority of Las Cruces Public Schools received a grade of “C” or lower. Out of the 40 schools in the district, only two received “A”s — Desert Hills Elementary and Monte Vista Elementary. Seventeen schools received “D”s.

Superintendent of Schools Stan Rounds says these are only preliminary grades.

“This is not the system under real live fire today. It’s still simulated and a number of the factors that will be used in the final process at the end of this year off 2012 data are not in place today,” Rounds said.

Rounds says the new grading system is a major improvement over the No Child Left Behind Act. The system takes more than thirty different factors into account to grade each school. Factors include everything from standardized test scores to attendance.

“The new system of letter grades should help all of us better understand where we are and where we need to focus and which grade levels need more intervention. Therefore, we think it’ll give us all a clearer picture to work with,” said Rounds.

Rounds thinks when the final grades are released later this year, his district will have higher grades.

“Many, many of our schools were within 1 and a half points of getting to the next higher grade level. Let me give you some examples. Oate high school which received a B grade missed an A by only 1 point. Alameda elementary was only 1.6 points away from a B. East Picacho was 1.1 points from a C. They had a D,” Superintendent Rounds said.

These preliminary grades will not affect funding for schools. When the final grades are released in the summer or fall, higher performing schools will be rewarded with bonus funding; failing schools will receive help to hire instructional coaches. Superintendent Rounds says he is already making changes to improve the schools’ grades.

The individual grades for each school are available at http://webapp2.ped.state.nm.us/SchoolData/SchoolGrading.aspx.