Issues arise in teaching new science standards

Implementation is made difficult due to workload, inadequate funding, a trio of education experts say

Advocates of a set of science standards for public schools cheered when the state Public Education Department agreed after some contention and debate to initiate those recommendations starting this year.

But the harsh reality of adopting the standards seemed to set in this week when the Legislative Education Study Committee heard from a trio of experts concerned about the speed in which educators must move on the curriculum.

Those three science standards proponents painted a picture of too much work without enough time or money to do it correctly.

“We have a timeline issue,” Stan Rounds, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition of Education Leaders, told the committee members. “We’ve got to get serious about this as we move in.”

Debra Thrall, a board member of the New Mexico Science Teachers Association and one of the leaders of a program to introduce teachers to the new standards, said “a sea change” is needed in funding for the initiative.

“We need help and our science teachers need help,” she said.

The conflict over the science standards made national news last fall after the state Public Education Department announced it would mostly adopt the Next Generation Science Standards but alter them, eliminating such concepts as

evolution, the age of Earth and human causes of climate change.

Within a month, public and professional outcry was loud enough that Public Education Secretarydesignate Christopher Ruszkowski announced that the state would adhere to the Next Generation standards while adding a half-dozen New Mexico-specific measures to it.

Shortly thereafter, Rounds appeared before the Legislative Education Study Committee, saying the state had to move fast to make the standards a reality. He estimated it would cost taxpayers more than the allocated $20 million to $25 million just to pay for new textbooks.

Thrall on Monday estimated that figure at $28 million, not including another $5 million per year for professional development for teachers. But money isn’t the only issue.

In terms of teacher training, the state is “attempting to meet some of those needs … but the idea of a coordinated effort is missing,” said Gwen Warniment, who oversees the K-12 science inquiry program run by the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation in 44 schools spanning eight districts. “We are not doing nearly enough across the board,” Warniment said.

Some legislators asked questions about the report, but few offered any ideas for how to address the issue other than to ensure that the Legislature appropriates enough money for the new standards in its upcoming 60-day session.

Sen. Mimi Stewart, a Democrat from Albuquerque who chairs the committee, said the Legislature might be better able to do that this coming year because of increased revenue. The additional money is mostly attributable to a boom period for the oil industry.

Among the other concerns Rounds, Thrall and Warniment cited were up to a 30 percent turnover in science teachers in the state every year and the need for the state’s colleges and universities to teach the standards.