Principal Cherie Love said students in the Tutored by Teachers program are usually at 5% to 10% proficiency at the start of the school year and end with 41% proficiency. Love said while the school would like to see more improvement, “it’s significant growth in a short period of time.”
It would seem a big part of the New Mexico public school outcomes is dependent on the levels of the incoming students, a large number of which live in poor communities, and are ESL.
Ratings for various states Public Education proficiencies often fail to account for the initial levels of students. New Mexico is at the bottom for outcomes, but where would they be if incoming proficiencies were taken into account? To get a better sense of how well the schools are doing, one might conclude the above “proficiency at start and at end” is a more accurate metric of what learning has been accomplished by the schools.
Below is the text from an article in the Nov.2 Las Cruces Sun News by Ernesto Cisneros. a reporting fellow with the UNM/NM Local News Fund program.
The initiative is called Tutored by Teachers, a virtual learning program that provides tutoring in a variety of subjects including English Language Arts and math. At Doña Ana Elementary, the program has been implemented for about a year with a focus on the math component, a problem area many students struggle with, according to Principal Cherie Love.
“All of the students receive tutoring, we call it just a block an intervention, an enrichment, enhancement block. We do a math intervention block for 30 minutes Monday through Friday and at that time the teachers have an opportunity to work with those students that need a little more support, what we call an urgent intervention, and are tutored by teachers … through our TbT program,” Love said.
Students log on to the program through a computer and participate in virtual activities with teachers live, who reinforce concepts that students have already learned or are learning in the classroom. Love said this support has helped students obtain or reach grade level in their studies. It has also increased engagement and interaction which was a challenge many elementary schools faced during the pandemic, she said.
“They’re talking to them, they’re asking questions, they’re laughing, they’re sharing back and forth stories about whatever the teacher on the other end is telling them and that’s what really hooked us in the engagement piece,” Love said.
–Doña Ana Elementary students in Christy Morneau’s 2nd grade class log on to the Tutored by Teachers virtual learning program on Oct. 20, 2023.
According to the program’s website, one of the goals is to deliver results for students. Indianapolis Public Schools, who also utilizes the program, saw a 10% growth in math and 12% growth in English Language Arts in test scores, according to a Tutored by Teachers report.
Love pointed to her school’s student assessment data when talking about success rates. She said students are usually at 5% to 10% proficiency at the start of the school year and end with 41% proficiency. Love said while the school would like to see more improvement, “it’s significant growth in a short period of time.”
“In the classroom, we’ve seen definite direct correlation between what they’re learning and what they’re doing in their intervention block with TbT,” Love said. “The teachers have a say, so they’re like, this is what we’re working on in our classroom. These are the skills and the standards we need the students, the tutors to address, and so what they’re seeing is directly impacting instruction that they’re having in the classroom. That’s the benefits that we’re seeing.”
Reporting in 2023 by the Associated Press, Stanford University’s Big Local News Project and Stanford education professor Thomas Dee, found that 1.2 million K-12 students nationally were gone from public schools with an emphasis on elementary students. In New Mexico, 40% of the state’s public schools’ population remained absent post-pandemic.
“We need to be able to continue to use technology to be able to use our best teachers to be able to take advantage of these initiatives [Tutored by Teachers] that are specifically aligned to individual needs of students,” Romero said.
“I don’t think anybody would ever argue that more time with teachers is a bad thing and so we’re really excited our legislature has been very supportive [of education spending]. Our governor has been very supportive. We have added over $1 billion to education in New Mexico over this last year and we’re seeing those outcomes happening right now,” he continued.
When asked how the tutoring program plays into New Mexico’s continuous low rankings of public education, Romero explained that it’s one of many initial steps to help kids who are struggling post-pandemic. Optimistically, he said New Mexico will see more results over time as investments in education are put to the test.
“New Mexico is going to be the story of how we go from a high need to some amazing outcomes for students,” Romero said. “I wish we could have this conversation in a couple years from now.”