Albuquerque, NM – Last week, Senate Majority Whip Tim Keller (D-17-Bernalillo) sent a letter to Public Education Department (PED) Secretary-Designate Hanna Skandera requesting audit results that pertain to the A-F school scoring and teacher evaluation scoring.
Sen. Keller’s request comes as the new school year begins for most New Mexican children and following significant public debate surrounding the models for scoring.
“The scores we use to gauge the effectiveness of our teachers and our schools have significant impact over the distribution of education funding and therefore quality of the public education our kids receive,” said Sen. Keller. “That’s why proper audits of these processes and revisions based on this information are vital to guaranteeing equal and fair access to a quality education.”
Prior to the 2014 legislative session, Sen. Keller called on Governor Susana Martinez to place education reforms on the agenda for debate and has been a vocal advocate in support of programs that help keep New Mexico-educated graduates in the state by supporting expansion of science, technology, engineering and math courses at an early age.
Sen. Keller added, “Over-testing is taking the learning right out of our classrooms. I’m requesting this information to help guide us in making better decisions to evaluate our children and the schools they attend.”