There are two ways to spin Santa Fe Public Schools’ recent AYP, or “adequate yearly progress,” scores:
1. We’re failing.
2. We only look like we’re failing.
On Aug. 2, the
New Mexico Public Education Department
released the 2009-10 scores for AYP, the major benchmark for school success under the federal
No Child Left Behind Act
.
Susanna Murphy, the education secretary designate, told the press that
AYP
is one of “those moving targets that give a false sense that schools are failing when, in essence, they are progressing.”
In Santa Fe, only three of 30 public schools met AYP last year, and one of them is Acequia Madre Elementary, which SFPS has slated for closure after this school year.
The district itself is in its fourth year of failing to meet AYP; as if that weren’t enough, the state’s education budget is slated for a hefty 3 percent cut later this year.
So does the law need to change, or does New Mexico need to do better?
“Both!” Sheila Hyde, NMPED assistant secretary for quality assurance and systems integration, says. “I think you’re going to see the law change. I don’t think you’re going to see any changes in terms of lowering our standards.”
