Gov. Susana Martinez's administration plans to help public schools identify students who are at risk of dropping out of school.
The governor announced Thursday the Public Education Department will use $500,000 approved by the Legislature to implement an early warning system for potential school dropouts.
The department will use data that's already collected, such as reading proficiency in the 3rd grade, truancy rates in middle school and freshman grades, to prepare a report on students that assesses whether they're having problems in school that may cause them to drop out. The reports will be provided to school counselors, who can assist struggling students.
The administration plans to make the information available in the upcoming 2013-2014 school year.
The statewide graduation rate for the class of 2012 was about 70 percent.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.