skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Critics of NM's K-3 Testing Plan to Address PED Hearing

play audio
Play

Thursday, May 17, 2018   

SANTA FE, N.M. – The New Mexico Public Education Department will take comments in Santa Fe Thursday on a controversial proposal to hold back students in kindergarten through third grade who can't read proficiently.

The proposal is favored by Gov. Susana Martinez, but has never found support in the Legislature.

The rule would require young learners to pass a Professional Education Test (PED) in reading to continue to the next grade.

Lindsay Winkler, an attorney with the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, says the state should be promoting evidence-based programs instead of a one-size-fits-all testing and retention policy.

“We want our children to be good readers and programs that work are things like pre-K extended learning and professional development for teachers,” she states.

Winkler notes that 85 percent of the state's 4-year-olds do not have access to a full-day pre-K learning program.

The hearing will be held at the New Mexico Public Education Department, 3000 Don Gaspar Ave. in Santa Fe Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon.

According to a legislative analysis, only 26 percent of New Mexico's third-grade students were proficient in reading in the 2017 fiscal year.

In addition, a report from the state's Voices for Children group shows the state ranked 50th in the nation in reading proficiency.

Nonetheless, Winkler says research shows mandatory retention programs tend to do more harm than good by prompting children to drop out of school in advanced grades.

"It will definitely hurt children of color and low-income children more,” she states. “Those kids who are low income tend to be held back more, tend to do less well on those one-size-fits-all tests. It doesn't really address the whole child."

Currently parents and schools decide together if a child should be held back, although in some cases state law allows mandatory retention of students even if the parent objects.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021