Superintendent wrong on grades

Recently, Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Veronica Garcia defended the school district’s proposal (later rejected by the school board) to close two small elementary schools in Santa Fe. In that piece, Superintendent Garcia claimed that Think New Mexico’s opposition to closing the schools was based on faulty data.

Think New Mexico’s Executive Director, Fred Nathan, has highlighted the negative impacts of a similar situation seven years ago, in which SFPS closed three smaller schools (Alvord, Kaune, and Larragoite ES) and consolidated the students into one, much larger school (Aspen Community Magnet School). After the consolidation, proficiency levels at Aspen declined.

Garcia claimed that the decline in scores during the 2010-11 academic year was simply part of a statewide trend, and that by the 2012-13 academic year, Aspen students were demonstrating proficiency levels above the state average.

Curious about the accuracy of Garcia’s statement, I compared student proficiency levels at Alvord, Kaune, and Larragoite in reading, math, and science from 2005-2010 to those at Aspen from 2010-2016.

While it is true that the state average declined during 2010-11, Aspen’s proficiency levels never rebounded in the way Superintendent Garcia claims they did. Never once were any of the average student proficiency levels at or above the state average, as Garcia claimed.

Superintendent Garcia never cites a source to support her claim. However, the official data publicly available on the Department of Public Education’s website clearly contradicts the statement she made in her editorial (http://ped.state. nm.us/AssessmentAccountability/AcademicGrowth/NMSBA.html).

RAFFAELE MOORE Albuquerque