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American Federation of Teachers New Mexico Responds to New Mexico PARCC Results

http://nm.aft.org/

 

  Commentary: American Federation of Teachers New Mexico President Stephanie Ly released the following statement:

“With the release of the Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) scores, Secretary Skandera, for a second year championed low scores as a sign of progress for her reforms within the Public Education System.

“When low PARCC scores were released last year, Secretary Skandera said it was due to the transition to a new test format, and that our students would ‘rise to the challenge.’ With the release of this year’s scores, Secretary Skandera is now championing minimal gains in PARCC scores. Despite small increases, the fact remains that across the board, New Mexico students are not proficient, according to PARCC. With high-stakes graduation and retention decisions being made based on the results of PARCC, it is truly sad the Secretary continues to jeopardize our student’s futures in such a careless way.

“As more states move away from using PARCC as a method to assess students, and with the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act allowing increased state flexibility, New Mexico policy makers like Secretary Skandera need to include stakeholder input in choosing the direction and number of assessments our students take so that they become meaningful and benefits both students and educators.

“It is clear PARCC is not working for our students, and with high-stakes decisions like teacher evaluations, student graduation, and mandatory retention being based on these scores, Secretary Skandera is doing a disservice to our students and education professionals by continuing to use the PARCC assessment in New Mexico schools,” said Ly.