Las Cruces school board hears data on testing, graduation rates

LAS CRUCES - People have found various ways to pronounce TAMELA, the acronym for the New Mexico Standards Based Transition Assessment of Math and English Language Arts. 

One takeaway from Tuesday's school board meeting is that Las Cruces Public Schools acting superintendent Steven Sanchez refers to the exam as "the tamale." 

This "tamale" is the standards-based assessment given to New Mexico public school statements this spring, after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered the state to transition away from the controversial PARCC exams for assessing math and English language arts.

Wendi Miller-Tomlinson, the associate superintendent in charge of instruction for LCPS, said the transitional assessment was "essentially the PARCC test, but a little bit shorter — it had fewer items." 

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In July, the PED reported the new exam "decreased time spent on testing for students by 30 percent while maintaining comparable results to last year’s assessment."

Compared to the previous school year, testing for the 2018-19 school year indicated the district increased from 30 percent to 32.2 percent proficiency in English language arts, with a dip in math proficiency from 20.8 percent to 17.6 percent.

Both rates were slightly below the state average but the trends mirrored trends statewide, as Miller-Tomlinson demonstrated in side-by-side graphs. She also reported that the state and LCPS both showed downward slides in science proficiency, which she said was partly attributable to changes in assessments.

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She also reported a "slight dip" in Spanish reading proficiency, from 23.6 to 18.6 percent as the district tested more students. Statewide, the proficiency rate was 26 percent.

The happiest news was on graduation rates, with the district maintaining a long-running trend of topping the state and national averages, reporting an 86.2 graduation rate for last year compared to 73.9 percent statewide.

Miller-Tomlinson added that LCPS' graduation rate is the highest in the state when compared to other New Mexico districts with more than one comprehensive high school. She pointed out that the top district graduation rate in 2018 was at the Los Alamos Public Schools — 89.4 percent per state reporting — which has a single high school.

As of Sept. 3, the day of the meeting, enrollment in the Las Cruces Public Schools stood at 24,783 students, Miller-Tomlinson reported. This included nearly 1,000 pre-kindergarten students. 

Updates on Columbia, White Sands

Sanchez, who was named acting superintendent after the board accepted Superintendent Greg Ewing's resignation last month, reported that in recent weeks he and Karen Trujillo (who will begin duty as interim superintendent next week) have visited numerous schools in the district to speak with faculty and other staff.

Board member Maury Castro, whose district includes Columbia Elementary School, had praise for new playground equipment, portable buildings and remodeling of facilities at Centennial High School, where Columbia's students will hold school while their school building in north Las Cruces is demolished and reconstructed.

Sanchez said he had also inspected the temporary elementary school campus within the high school's grounds as work continues to provide facilities and refine security for the younger students. 

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The department of health services is studying a new rule, published by the New Mexico Public Education Department on Aug. 27 in response to changes in state cannabis law permitting medical cannabis on school grounds and buses, and will be developing policies and regulations for use of the medications at school sites and events. New policy would require approval by the board at a future session.

Work on design and eventual construction for Columbia is awaiting final word on how much funding the Public School Capital Outlay Council will approve for the new building, deputy superintendent Gabriel Jacquez reported. The agency is set to announce its project awards in October. 

Jacquez also said that the district had begun talks with authorities at White Sands Missile Range and the Department of Defense concerning the White Sands Elementary School building, saying the structure, dating back to the 1950's, was approaching its "end of life."

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonActor on Twitter.