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The Latest: New Mexico: Rise in effective or higher teachers

Simon Thompson

  Officials say around 74 percent of public school teachers in New Mexico are effective or better when it comes to their success in the classroom.

That's the highest number of effective or better teachers in the state since Gov. Susana Martinez introduced a new teacher evaluations system four years ago.

The New Mexico Public Education Department on Friday released the latest results under the much-debated system that's the focus of an ongoing court battle.

New results show that the number of "highly effective" teachers rose 9 percent while the number of "ineffective" teachers statewide fell around 41 percent.

New Mexico Public Education Secretary Christopher Ruszkowski credited to rise in effective or better teachers to school districts taking advantage of state-funded professional development programs.

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Noon

New Mexico public education officials are expected Friday to release the results of the latest round of teacher evaluations, but critics say the evaluation system is still flawed.

The annual reviews have been a source of contention and legal wrangling between the teacher unions and the state Public Education Department for years. Earlier this year, Gov. Susana Martinez's administration announced changes after a series of meetings with teachers around the state to reduce the weight that standardized test scores have on the evaluations.

The president of the National Education Association in New Mexico, Betty Patterson, said Friday that students need to learn and be inspired but that standardized tests are not an accurate measure of a student's creativity or potential or a teacher's ability to motivate students.