By NM Senator Howie Morales (D-Silver City, NM)

This week in classrooms across New Mexico, students from grades 3 through 11 will begin taking the standardized test known as PARCC. For the sake of our children’s futures, I am calling for this to be the last time they take the test. The results have been in for a long time: PARCC is a colossal and expensive failure for our state. The next Governor must change the state’s education policy to return to sensible assessment and teaching practices, and do away with this gold-plated experiment that has damaged our system of education.

During her tenure over the last seven years, Governor Susana Martinez and her head of Public Education, Hannah Skandera, wasted millions of dollars’ worth of state taxes on ‘The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers’ (better known by its acronym, PARCC).

PARCC is the standardized test linked to national Common Core curriculum in Math and English. Pearson Education Inc., a private for-profit global corporation based in London, holds the contract to produce PARCC tests in New Mexico. Implementing it has been the focus of the state’s education policy. The corporations surrounding the test have profited enormously, while New Mexico remains at the bottom in the nation for student achievement.

Instead of using scarce public dollars for proven methods of bettering education - smaller class sizes, more professional development for educators, and more books, librarians, nurses, counselors, and instructors for art, dance and music – the Martinez administration’s policy has been to funnel millions to corporations for the PARCC curriculum and tests, and its technology.

Classroom teachers and parents never had any serious input into the exam. Instead, it was handed down to states and schools from huge corporations that stood to profit from its adoption, and the federal government.

The Martinez administration and Skandera promised that PARCC and Common Core just needed implementation time to turn around student achievement. They told us that evaluation of teachers by student test scores would result in better teaching, which in turn would close the achievement gap between well-off and poor children in our state. They were wrong.

The complete failure of the PARCC exam is proven not only in New Mexico, but across the U.S. in states that adopted it. That is why other states are abandoning PARCC. The Nation’s Report Card, which is what the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is regularly called, assesses what students know and can do in various subjects. 2017 NAEP scores show no improvement in student achievement after years of PARCC-style ‘reforms’ based on business practices. It wasn’t always this way. From the early 1970s until 1999, NAEP scores were rising in our country – before corporate changes took over federal education policies.

While tens of millions of dollars were diverted from K-12 classrooms in New Mexico to for-profit contracts for federal standards, tests and technology, we now face a massive teacher shortage. Blaming of teachers, schools, students accompanied all the ‘reforms’ represented by PARCC testing. That too was a huge mistake.

PARCC does harm. It is part of the push for privatization of our public schools. There are better ways to assess the learning of school-age children.

I am all for accountability in our schools. But it is time we begin to listen to parents and teachers again. Residents of New Mexico must seize the opportunity presented by the 2018 elections to change the direction of our public schools, and vote against the trend of high-stakes annual testing of children, and the privatization of our public education. Instead, we must create new momentum for learning that is authentic, and that furthers the character, intellect and the lives of New Mexico’s children. After this school year, let us say Adios! to PARCC.

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.