I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
New Mexico’s fourth graders don’t read very well, which sets them up to fail as they continue on in school, according to a new report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. With only 20 percent of fourth graders reading at a proficient level, the state is ranked in the report at 49th in the nation, just ahead of Louisiana. This is one reason the state has such a low high school graduation rate, said New Mexico Voices for Children in a statement released with the report.
“That four out of five of our kids aren’t proficient at reading by the end of third grade is very concerning and is an underlying factor for other educational problems, like our low high school graduation rate,” said Chris Hollis, KIDS COUNT Program Manager for New Mexico Voices for Children.
“What’s even more disconcerting is that, when you look at this data by race and ethnic groups you see huge disparities. For example, 90 percent of our Native-American children are not proficient in reading by fourth grade,” she added.
In the announcement of the new report, the Foundation explained that reading by the start of fourth grade is critical because that is when children shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Those not reading well are at a “distinct and ever-increasing disadvantage.” Solutions given in the report are to make early care and education programs, like pre-K, more available.
The root cause of reading deficiency is that children aren’t ready to learn when they start kindergarten because they haven’t had nurturing educational experiences in early childhood. Much of this is due to chronic absenteeism and “summer learning loss,” particularly among children of low-income families.
“For states like New Mexico and Louisiana, high rates of child poverty are absolutely key factors,” said Eric Griego, executive director of NM Voices. “We could improve our educational outcomes immensely by tackling child poverty.”
“More and more we’re learning how critical the first five years of a child’s life are,” Griego said. ”If we invest in those years we save a lot of money and heartache later on trying to catch up with expensive remedial programs. It’s really going to take a shift in how we think about public education.”
The report, Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters, draws on National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data from 2009. New Mexico specific data is also available.
