NM senators get behind Martinez's school-grading plan

[Parent]

If you want to see a dramatic increase in student performance, hold parents responsible. The majority of students fall behind and fail because their parents fail them at home. Tie student performance to income tax refunds or government checks and I guarantee you those kids will magically find a work ethic and desire to succeed!

[Del]

Good grief, so we need a metric to judge by. Why not just see that kids learn to read by the end of the first or second grade; is this so difficult? If a kid can read well they can learn well; no reading, no learning. We have to start somewhere, so why not start at the beginning.

Too simplistic? Oh well.

[Silverback]

Before we add more administrative layers to NM education, I would suggest scrapping "No Child Left Behind," raise teacher salaries to a livable wage, the kind that will attract higher quality professors, replace underachieving teachers and proportionately more administrators, put principal's and president's salaries within a tolerable range, then dump the formulaic methodology the education schools are shoveling out, return to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic,...so many corrective measures are needed, adding a new layer fails to give confidence NM education is heading the right direction.

[Buenos Gracias]

Today, for the first time in history, America's younger generation is less well-educated than its parents.

In the last 5 years more than six million American youths have dropped out of high school to join a cadre of similarly situated youths -- over half of whom under 25 years of age are currently without jobs. Also during the last 5 years another $2 trillion was spent on K-12 public education while the K-12 students remained mired near the bottom of the developed-world class.

The average lifetime wage of a United States high school graduate is $17. They expect benefits, too, while overseas workers may be better educated and willing to work for $1.50/hr.

<The above 3 points are made in "Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited">

And a final observation: Money is being thrown at the really good students (AES) and at the really bad students ... but what about the students in the middle?

[counterstrike]

$75 billion dollars for the Department of Education in Obama's budget for 2012. Anyone think we will get our monies worth? I don't. We would be better off dismantling that department and let each locality be responsible for the education of their children.

[The sad part]

"$75 billion dollars for the Department of Education in Obama's budget for 2012. Anyone think we will get our monies worth? I don't. We would be better off dismantling that department and let each locality be responsible for the education of their children."

Or better yet, quit wasting money on educating children at all.

[i disagree]

Mark297 wrote:

I have no problem with giving schools letter grades. However, the whole process needs to change. For example, if a student is struggling and below grade level, they need to attend mandatory tutoring and summer school. With that said, the State will need to provide the funds for those programs. If students do not attend these extra services, there need s to be accountability system in place for both the parent and the student to answer for their failure to attend.

Giving students more to do and taking away their free time will not help. It's punitive in nature and kids will naturally resist. The whole approach to classroom education needs to be revamped. How about a block schedule? Students take three classes at a time, two hours each, for one trimester. The next trimester, three more classes, and so on. Add in a longer lunch period so kids don't overeat by being forced to eat too fast, and 20-minute get-up-and-move sessions before each class, to get blood flowing to the brains. Move to a portfolio-based system of assessment that measures actual growth and application of knowledge, rather than an objective test that measures how well students take tests. Create long-term cohorts, beginning in the third grade, and assign a team of counselors, deans, and curriculum coordinators to follow each cohort through graduation, to allow staff and students to actually form trusting relationships, then compare performance cohort-to-cohort instead of grade-year-to-grade-year. Re funding, provide financial incentives to schools who innovate instead of to schools who just find ways to make their numbers look a little better under the current system.

I've put these ideas forth to legislators and school administrators for years and been blown off every time. Perhaps Mr. Hayes could help garner some attention?

[i disagree]

Singer wrote:

I also think that we need to rethink the school calender. A year round school calender would be very beneficial for the students and teachers, not to mention families.

The cost of cooling the buildings through the summer, at least here in the Southeast, would break the bank. In my community, we have a lot of older buildings whose systems couldn't bear the load, and the bills would be astronomical.

[Singer]

i disagree wrote:

<quoted text>
The cost of cooling the buildings through the summer, at least here in the Southeast, would break the bank. In my community, we have a lot of older buildings whose systems couldn't bear the load, and the bills would be astronomical.

Open windows, teach outside, be creative. Make sure they drink plenty of water and can take frequent bathroom breaks or chances to run around and stretch. Excuses can be made from now till doomsday, The simple fact is that the traditional school calender is no longer working for modern students. Kids don't work the farm like they used to. Using a balanced school calender, or a year round calender would extend the school year. Schedule in frequent breaks of two to three weeks where teachers can have their meetings and what-not rather then when kids should be in school. Families could do different types of vacations then because parents have to work out when to take off anyway. Church camps, or any type of camp for that matter could experiment with other things as well.

Also, maybe people who like to complain about teachers would stop complaining about the summer vacation time.

[Socrates]

This is nothing but pure political grandstanding and educational nonsense. Grading schools will not improve education.

Someone is censoring this forum for Martinez. My previous post was deleted even though it contained nothing offensive.

[Unbelievable]

I cannot believe that Senators are getting behind the Governor on this one. They must not be educators. All this will do is penalize smaller schools and schools with higher percentages of students with disabilities. There may be even a correlation between schools with low SES.

You are correct in stating that basing it on graduation rates will only make schools pass the students on.

Currently education is geared towards passing the test. How many weeks are spent MAPS testing, ACCESS testing, sample testing for the test. When can teachers teach?

[i disagree]

@ Singer, not to offend, but teaching outside and opening windows isn't feasible when its 98 in the shade. I know it doesn't look like your typical desert down here, but May through September, it feels like one. Don't get me wrong, I think year-round school can be a good idea. Our climate in Eddy/Lea/Chaves is just too hostile to support it.

[Singer]

i disagree wrote:

@ Singer, not to offend, but teaching outside and opening windows isn't feasible when its 98 in the shade. I know it doesn't look like your typical desert down here, but May through September, it feels like one. Don't get me wrong, I think year-round school can be a good idea. Our climate in Eddy/Lea/Chaves is just too hostile to support it.

I know it says Rio Rancho, but I am in Las Cruces. I grew up in Deming. I know how hostile the summers can be here. Yet we insist on living here. Why is that? We make it work. We stop the excuses, we 'man up' and we deal with the heat in the best way we can and we go on with our lives. Why shouldn't we do the same thing when it comes to educating our children?