Look at schools like AIMS that succeed

LAST (MONTH), the New Mexico Public Education Department released to districts and the media the results of (the spring) PARCC tests. As reported in the Journal, the 2017 results show 28.6 percent proficiency in English language arts and 19.7 percent in math. In 2015, the first year the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers was administered in New Mexico, the numbers were 26.4 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively.

Albuquerque Public Schools and Rio Rancho Public Schools actually saw English scores decline slightly over the past three years, while math was nearly flat.

However, the reporting failed to highlight the tremendous successes by other schools in the state. Farmington, Hobbs and Alamogordo, in particular, enjoyed strong results. In Albuquerque, charter school AIMS@UNM, and others achieved tremendous results. In fact, AIMS@UNM results have been nationally recognized.

The Washington Post named AIMS@UNM 42nd nationally in most challenging high schools, and US News and World Report ranked AIMS@ UNM No. 1 in New Mexico, No. 83 out of 2,350 national charter schools and No. 314 among national high schools.

The AIMS test results are not a result of a “stacked” sample. Contrary to reports, the AIMS@UNM student body makeup is very diverse: 52 percent male and 48 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 51 percent and achieves a 94 percent graduation rate.

Rather than shifting the focus to the unproven issue of testing fairness, maybe the public should question why some schools and districts perform well and others do not? Why don’t the state education power brokers learn from the successful schools and consider their proven strategies? Obviously, our New Mexico kids can and do score well on these “biased” tests!

AIMS@UNM is currently trying to expand its footprint to other New Mexico communities, in particular Rio Rancho. Unfortunately the current political climate has placed obstacles in that path in the form of lawsuits and recognized legal judgements followed by baseless appeals. At the heart of the issue is the improvement of our New Mexico kids’ education.

It’s time to get politics out of education and make New Mexico’s children the priority.