For better teaching, measure results

NEW MEXICO should applaud the Journal’s focus on our unacceptable public education. Your editorials Sept. 11 and 15 are clear and compelling.

Note that increasing funding for an unsatisfactory process, and elaborating that process in a written plan, are unlikely to improve results.

Doing what we already are doing with better wages and greater clarity only yields more of what we have now — unacceptable achievement for most of our public school students and graduates.

New Mexico increased funding substantially for public education in the last decade, with little improvement — stark evidence that more money appropriated for the same work does not make much difference.

The problem is not poor funding, nor is it unclear processes. The problem is inadequate learning in our public schools. Our children need more effective teaching. They need the academic and human skills to prosper in New Mexico, nationally, and globally during their lifetimes.

The best way we can support our teachers is by giving them the tools and means to teach more effectively. What professional doesn’t want to improve? Better teaching begins with measuring the results. Teachers who would like to be better teachers need independent, externally verified assessments of their work, so they know how to improve giving their students what they need for their lives. Focused, individual professional development can then raise teachers’ results.

The Journal, the New Mexico Public Education Department and the Legislature can change the future for our children by defining the achievement we want for our students — by grade and by subject, and by insisting on independent assessments of student achievement that are detailed and provide results fast enough to guide teachers how to improve their performance.

BRAD HOSMER Former regent, UNM

Cedar Crest