by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. (Educational Administration, minor Curriculum and Instruction) -
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| Susana Martinez (R) Diane Denish (D) |
I listened carefully to the governor candidates debate about education Thursday and was left with no idea what either candidate would really do to improve the educational outcomes in New Mexico schools. Both spoke in clichés and generalizations other than to metaphorically slap each other around and posture trying to get a good sound clip for the ten p.m. news.
What was apparent is that this format did not favor understanding really anything about the candidates. Yes, we know now that Susana Martinez did not vote in the special education election in September 2003 and Diane Denish is still using the state jet to visit rural schools. They kept hammering at their talking points and little else. Yawn!
Whoever prepared Susana Martinez should be dropped down an empty elevator shaft for arming her with the notion that “Short Cycle Assessment” was lacking in New Mexico. Hello! Every day in every school they are already doing that as part of the No Child Left Behind, Response To Intervention procedures. RTI is core to every school every day. Martinez brought it up as if she just now thought of it. Sad.
Not to be outdone, whoever prepared Diane Denish gave her the talking points that the way to make schools better is to fully fund them. Are you kidding me? The state budget goes up 54% in the last seven years and the issue is fully funding the schools? Sad. Neither could hit water from a boat about education. Both could have hit homeruns if better prepared. First, Diane Denish has actually pushed for more involvement with children before they enter Kindergarten. She could point out that the core problem in New Mexico schools is that the population of Kindergarten students is spread in ability from that of students with the literate skills of a three year old to a child with literate skills of a seven year old. Those students who on their first day in public school are two years of reading level behind certainly needed an intervention so they could start school reading on grade level. Otherwise, those students will need to make one year of regular progress in reading while they also make two years of catch up progress, rather an impossibility unless it becomes the goal of the schools for students to read on grade level.
That said, Susana Martinez could rightly point out that throughout the course of the Richardson/Denish administration students continued to not read on grade level while every textbook students use is designed for their intended grade reading level. What the heck is wrong with those leaders who continue to spend so much money on textbooks that half of the students cannot read because they are not on that reading level? Simplifying the goals of the schools to just two points would have seemed very good: first, all students must read on grade level and all students must have the math skills of their grade level. And, then let the school do that task. Focus not on comparing schools but get students reading and doing math equal to their grade level. All in all, what the debate showed is that neither has been near any classrooms in decades. Sad.
Dr. Michael Swickard - Education "Debate"
From the Center for Immigration Studies - By Jessica Vaughan - ICE's misleadingly-named Office of State and Local Cooperation (OSLC) has announced the next step in the Obama administration's efforts to drastically diminish the scope of immigration law enforcement. According to a draft policy document now being circulated among a limited group of stakeholders, ICE chief John Morton intends to prohibit not only his officers, but also local officers with 287(g) immigration authority, from busting illegal aliens who are discovered as a result of traffic violations. Morton has already implemented a "catch and release" policy, whereby ICE catches removable aliens in jails or through local arrests, and then releases all but the most serious offenders from custody. But this policy goes farther, stipulating that ICE will not even take a look at the illegal aliens who expose themselves to law enforcement by committing a traffic violation. And, neither will those local officers who have discovered lots of illegal aliens in the course of enforcing traffic laws. Read more
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