PED gives failing APS schools viable options

Albuquerque Public Schools’ three worst performing elementary schools have received at least five consecutive “F” ratings from the state Public Education Department.

One would hope five years was long enough for APS to nudge these schools to minimally effective, at the very least. APS’ inability to do so is why PED is stepping in and mandating the school district pick one of four options to improve Hawthorne, Whittier and Los Padillas elementary schools, and their student performance — options that come with millions of additional dollars.

Those “F”s in no way mean the teachers and principals at these schools don’t care about their students and don’t work tirelessly to try to educate them. We know they do.

What those “F”s do mean is all those efforts have not moved the needle for 90 percent of these schools’ students, students who will not be prepared to advance or complete their educations.

It’s past time to try something new to help the more than 1,000 students who have foundered in these three failing schools for at least half a decade.

For six years in a row, Hawthorne and Whittier, both in southeast Albuquerque, have received “F”s from PED. Only 3 percent of Whittier’s 347 students are proficient in math; only 21 percent are proficient in reading. At Hawthorne, only 10 percent of its 523 students are proficient in math; only 25 percent are proficient in reading.

At Los Padillas, in the city’s South Valley, which has earned an “F” five years running, only 9 percent of its 218 students are proficient in math; only 22 percent are proficient readers.

Compared to schools elsewhere in the state with similar student demographics, these three APS schools have proficiency ratings of half or less than their counterparts in the Gadsden, Belen and Farmington districts.

To turn the tide, PED is offering each of the three schools four federally approved turnaround plans to choose from. All four are in compliance with the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act. They are: Significantly restructure and redesign through steps like extending instructional time, changing staff to only top-rated educators, or adopting state-selected curriculum approaches.

Re-launch under new management or a charter school operator that has been selected through a rigorous state or local review process.

Work with parents to move children into higher-performing public, charter, magnet or private schools, online learning or homeschooling. (This may include the creation and expansion of state or local school voucher programs.)

Close the school and enroll students in other area schools that are higher performing.

Schools need to have one of these plans approved and in place for the 2018-19 school year.

These are all tough choices. But they’re not unacceptable — unlike allowing poor-performing schools to continue to set students on a path to failure both academically and economically.

PED is allocating roughly $50 million in federal money, available over four years, to support the turnaround efforts at these and other schools statewide. The fourth failing elementary school cited by PED for drastic improvement is Dulce Elementary School in northern New Mexico. A total of 197 other schools have been marked as “Comprehensive and Improvement” or “Targeted Support and Improvement” schools that need to make changes for the sake of student performance or they, too, will end up facing the same choices APS and Dulce are facing today.

APS leadership has known for almost a year these recommendations were coming and now has until Jan. 9 to choose their remedies or PED will select them for them.

According to APS Superintendent Raquel Reedy, the three elementaries “will be looking at ways to make significant changes to their educational approach so that students are more successful.” In that spirit, APS should carefully select and embrace the option or options it chooses in hopes of finally improving these students’ chances at success.