Analysis: dismal education news

September 1 was a big day for education data. For starters, the Lujan Grisham Administration released data based on its new assessment (which replaced Susana Martinez’s assessment and then was delayed due to COVID). The results are not pretty. A writeup from the Santa Fe New Mexican both highlights the way the test has evolved and the disappointing results.

APS does a decent breakdown by school here, but results are not easy to find on the Public Education Department website. The charts below WERE released by PED, but the full report was hard to find.

In MORE education news, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released  nationwide data for 9 year olds. Sadly, “Average scores for age 9 students in 2022 declined 5 points in reading and 7 points in mathematics compared to 2020. This is the largest average score decline in reading since 1990, and the first ever score decline in mathematics.” (see below NM data).

Though (sadly) not broken out by state the NAEP report highlights how COVID lockdowns and chaos impacted students across the country. Since New Mexico students were locked out of their schools by MLG for over a year (6th-most in the nation) there is no doubt that New Mexico students suffered disproportionately due to lost time in the classroom.