Journal literacy story (so far) absolves schools from literacy failure

The Albuquerque Journal ran two stories on Sunday and one in today’s (Monday’s) paper about New Mexico’s literacy (really illiteracy) problem. On one hand this is exactly the kind of in-depth reporting that make daily newspapers like the Journal useful, but on the other hand the actual reporting is also what makes the media in general so frustrating.

Three stories in and there is

• No significant discussion of New Mexico’s troubled school system.
• Also, no discussion has been included at this point of Gov. Susana Martinez’s efforts to eliminate social promotion of 3rd graders who can’t read or the unions’ (successful) fight to stop that policy from being imposed.
• Nothing addressing how New Mexico’s unions fought to keep students out of classrooms over the past year and the potential impacts of THAT on New Mexico literacy levels;

Yes, New Mexico faces challenges in improving literacy, but ALL states face challenges. I sincerely hope the ABQ Journal looks at what other states are doing to (successfully) improve literacy outcomes.