LCSN story on good trend in graduation rates over the last five years for the state of NM. Perhaps some effective changes have taken place in approaches in regional schools:
New Mexico schools have done a better job of tailoring education to individual students’ needs over the past few years, said Wendi Miller-Tomlinson, director of secondary education at Las Cruces Public Schools.
“Now we pay really close attention to how individual student groups are performing — special education students, low-income students, migrant students, English Language Learners,” she said. “That data monitoring gives us better information, and we can better craft instruction to meet their needs.”
Schools are also better at tracking students and reporting graduation rates and other statistics, making the numbers more accurate, she said.
Statistics are challenging to understand, which has been an ongoing problem for education reform. Here it would appear NM is doing something better in the schools. Exactly how change has occurred, or exactly what the numbers may indicate, probably is less clear than meets the eye. The story mentions better tracking as potentially leading to better matches with student’s needs. Would like to see more details, but seems like good news.
Link kudos to Gary.