Mo Charnot
Early test score data appears to continue New Mexico's trend toward low proficiency in math and reading.
Reading scores remain flat and math proficiency rates have dropped, Public Education Secretary Arsenio Romero told state lawmakers Tuesday morning during a Legislative Finance Council hearing.
Legislators questioned Romero about the department’s efforts in improving mathematics education as he presented preliminary test score data from the 2023-2024 school year, which says student proficiency in reading remains at 38% and math proficiency rates have dropped to 22%, down from 24% last year.
“We are not moving fast enough, and we’re not doing everything we can to be able to ensure we’re getting better proficiency rates and outcomes for students,” Romero told the committee. “We do have some wonderful examples from across New Mexico…how can we learn from those examples at certain schools, certain classrooms…how do we balance out what we know works at a research level and also ensure that we respect local decision-making? Those things don’t always line up perfectly.”
Math proficiency rates have slowly inched downward in New Mexico between 2021-2022 and 2023-2024 school years, and this July 2024 LegiStat report says “achievement gaps for students are on par with gaps prior to the pandemic” and that math “has not received the same level of attention and resources statewide as reading.”
Rep. Brian Baca, R-Los Lunas, zeroed in on middle school math proficiency rates. According to LFC analyst Sunny Liu, slightly less than 30% of seventh grade students were proficient in math in the 2023-2024 year, and less than 20% in eighth. Eighth grade math proficiency is a common benchmark grade to predict future student achievement, and Baca questioned how much funding was aimed at seventh- and eighth-grade math students.
“Have we targeted more funds toward those grades? If not, then we should be, because if we’re talking about data-driven decision making—we’re talking about hundreds, millions, billions of dollars—and we’re not allocating them to where the need is, then we’re really just wasting money,” Baca said. “I totally support funding our schools…but if we don’t start seeing some results, if we didn’t start putting the money where it needs to be as far as accountability—from the top to the classroom—then we’re wasting money.”
Rep. Meredith Dixon, D-Albuquerque, also asked Romero what discussions the PED has been having to improve math proficiency in students. Romero described improving math scores as “top of mind” for him.
“We really need to turn the corner to start seeing increases; we’re really not seeing that when it comes to math,” Romero said.
The PED, Romero added, needs to create a structured plan for improving math instruction in the same way that the PED promoted programs such as structured literacy in reading instruction.
“What we’re looking at now is having to design our own math…I’m a little worried about how we move into the future,” Romero said. “It was not funded where it needs to be, and so that will be an area that I will be looking to all of you to help support.”
Dixon also asked whether the PED is looking at further implementing math classes based in career and technical work, citing “construction math” as an alternative class that high school students who plan on entering physical labor jobs—such as construction—can take.
“That can actually be more effective for some students, because when’s the last time you used Algebra 2 in your real life?” Dixon asked. “And, maybe you’re not going to go to college and you don’t need Algebra 2, but if you go into the trades, construction math is far more helpful. Are we looking at programs like that?”
Romero responded that graduation requirements that were updated in the 2024 legislative session have opened up more possibilities for programs like these, and said many districts have taken advantage of the option.”
Reading proficiency rates among students in grades three through eight in this report looked more promising: All grades except third grade showed increases in proficiency from between 1% to 5% over the past year, and overall, students in grades four through eight had average reading proficiency rates above 40%.
Students in third grade had a slight decrease in proficiency from the last school year, but remained above the 2021-2022 school year. Liu noted the dip in proficiency for third graders could be attributed to them being in kindergarten in the 2020-2021 school year—when all schools were online in New Mexico due to the pandemic. Another proficiency rate that slightly decreased was preliminary data from the 2024 SAT reading and writing assessment for 11th grade students (from 36% to 35%). The report attributes the dips in SAT performance to the SAT’s recent change to using fewer questions and shorter testing times, and says it is consistent with other states.
However, Baca also took issue with the reading data presented—namely that reading data only included grades three through eight. When he asked how much spending for pre-K programming had changed in the past few years, Liu responded that between fiscal years 2019 through 2025, pre-K funding increased from $282 million to $709 million, and Romero said he believes the PED will see positive outcomes from younger students due to the investments in early childhood education.
Baca argued that if this is the case, he feels that student achievement data for younger students should be presented.
“We know that if a student can’t read by third grade, that they become a greater percentage of dropouts and not being successful here, so we need more data on K-12,” Baca said. “Early identification and early intervention will only level the playing field if we really study those grades.”
When divided by demographics, Native American, Black and English language learners have consistently improved in reading proficiency between the 2021-2022 and the 2023-2024 school years, though Native students’ scores remain far below other racial demographics. Proficiency reading rates for students with disabilities remained relatively flat, and far below all other demographic groups.
“There’s been some wonderful, positive outcomes for Native students across New Mexico. We are seeing higher gains in reading and graduation rates,” Romero said. “The work is not done. I feel very good about the relationship that we have with our tribes, nations and pueblos now. We are starting to have conversations between all education agencies about what our next steps are in working in those communities.”
Liu, who presented the data alongside Romero, clarified that this test score data is “rough” and comes with “a lot of caveats,” since it’s not finalized. When asked about when finalized data would be released, Romero told the committee he hopes to see the data released before Sept. 1, and acknowledged that the PED’s November publication of 2022-2023 data last year was far later than usual.
Rep. Harry Garcia, D-Albuquerque, criticized the PED’s progress in addressing issues the LFC has brought to the department in three Legistat hearings over the past three years, having only completed two out of 10 actions the LFC has discussed with them since 2021: reinstating statewide testing in the 2021-2022 school year and providing additional training to school leadership.
“There has not been much done,” Garcia said. “What is the process, since 2021 until now, that we’re still in the same spot?”
Romero responded that there “has not been as much movement as there should be,” but added that he thinks the PED has improved in a number of ways recently, including the implementation of an accountability system he says “hadn’t been in place;” reducing the department’s vacancy rate to “under 13%” and supporting structured literacy in all school districts in New Mexico.
“These are all going to have multiplying positive effects and outcomes for students,” Romero said. “”We’re not done, so the work will continue.”
One area the PED is working on that Romero highlighted is chronic absenteeism, a major indicator toward student achievement. Between 2019 and 2023, New Mexico has experienced a 119% increase in chronically absent students—with 39.2% of all students missing at least 10% the school year in 2023, according to a June 2024 LFC report. In New Mexico, chronically absent students had proficiency rates around 10 percentage points lower than students who had regular attendance.
Romero noted that last year, the PED allocated $5 million to work on chronic absenteeism, which he notes the PED decided to target seven school districts with these funds, in which the PED was able to see declines in chronic absenteeism rates.
“We had to make a decision—how do we support that across the state, which can kind of get watered down with $5 million over 89 school districts, 100 charter schools, or can we target certain districts? “We did see some really good growth—or decline—in chronic absenteeism in those districts that we worked with,” Romero said. “That really gave us some baseline data as to how we move forward. We want to be able to continue that work into next year.”
He noted that in the upcoming school year, he wants to focus on dramatically improving chronic absenteeism in Albuquerque Public Schools, and added that while graduation rates have “started to see some improvement,” he is “not happy with the growth in those improvements—it needs to be a whole lot faster.”
Romero said that while he wants to congratulate districts with high graduation rates, he believes that schools need to be more focused on ensuring that all graduating students are proficient in math and reading.
“We have a high percentage of students that are going on to two- and four-year program universities and having to take remedial [classes] in those things, same thing when they go onto the workforce,” Romero said.
The Class of 2023 in New Mexico’s public and charter schools was 76.7%, a slight increase from 2022′s rate of 76.2% and part of a slow upward trend in New Mexico since 2014. At Santa Fe Public Schools, the four-year-graduation rate in the 2022-2023 school year grew to 83.1% (a 1% increase from the previous year), according to the PED.
Recently, the PED reported a notable difference in graduation rates for students who were involved in a career and technical education concentration: students who completed two or more courses in an approved program of study/career cluster had a graduation rate of 95.7%, according to a July 10 press release from the PED.
Romero noted the importance of programs like career and technical education as a driving force in student engagement, among other extracurricular activities, clubs and community schools.
“We know that this is key to making sure that students graduate, are successful and feel safe at school, and we see this with all populations, both at middle school and high schools,” Romero said. “We just need to be able to really double down on some of those efforts. The next question to ask is, do all students in our high schools have the ability to have access to these things?”
