Dear Joe-

I am a Level III, National Boards Certified Teacher

with a Master's Degree in the subject I teach. I
have taught at APS for 8 years, and choose to
work at a very challenging school on the West Side
of Albuquerque. I agree with you that this state
desperately needs a revolution in education.

Teachers, like myself, welcome accountability and

accurate, fair evaluations of our work. We would
love there to be more efficient mechanisms in place
for principals to be able to get rid of the few
ineffective teachers who make the rest of us look
bad. However, SB 502 is not the answer.  When it
was approved in the Senate on Friday night, my
heart sank. I can only hope it will be stopped before
it passes the House of Representatives.

There are very harmful provisions in this bill that will

defeat it's own purpose. It needs to be thought
through a great deal more, altered, and amended
before it will be ready for implementation.  Here is
my assessment as to why this is the wrong
legislation for New Mexico.
SB 502 will disproportionately hurt the most disadvantaged
students in New Mexico.  Currently, some of our best teachers
choose to work in the most challenging schools with the most
disadvantaged students.  They choose these schools because
they believe in living a life of service to kids who need them
most.  They are aware of the sad fact that children in low-income
communities are very far behind their peers in the more affluent
communities and score far lower on standardized tests.  These
teachers go above and beyond to try to remedy this, however,
in spite of their tremendous efforts teachers have little control
over student test scores.  If SB 502 passes, excellent teachers,
many with Masterʼs degrees and National Boards Certifications,
could easily find jobs at the schools in more affluent
communities and, alarmingly, many will do so to ensure steady
employment.  When a teacherʼs career is tied to student scores,
even if it is only a percentage of that teacherʼs “effectiveness”
rating, what incentive does a teacher have to stay in a
challenging school?  For me, I hope my love of these children is
enough to keep me in a tough school, and take my chances with
their test scores. 
 
SB 502 puts a greater burden on those who teach
Language Arts and Mathematics than on other teachers.
The teacherʼs job will depend on student scores on the NMSBA
test, which the teacher never sees before testing days, does
not score, and does not get results of for many months.  
Students are not accountable to these tests because there is
no grade.   They sometimes draw pictures on them by filling in
bubbles that will create an image or pattern, rather than actually
try to answer the questions.  Teachers cannot tell the student
not to do this, only to do his best.  If the student wants to make
a pretty pattern out of the dots, the teachers have to bite their
tongues.  This studentʼs test score does not reflect the
Language Arts or Mathematics teacherʼs ability to teach.
 
How will SB 502 legitimize studentsʼ test scores in Elective
classes?
SB 502 states that subjects that are not on the NMSBA will be
assessed through a district based assessment, or one written
by the teacher and approved by the superintendent.  Currently,
teachers are developing Standards Based assessments for all
courses, (including Electives) to use in their classrooms. These
could be approved by the superintendant, however, in many of
these tests (Art, Home Economics, or Physical Education), the
student must be observed executing skills learned in the
course. Will the State of New Mexico trust teachers to collect
their own data and present it to the Superintendent? Or will
someone in the Superintendentʼs office come to each school to
observe and assess each PE student in the district individually
on his/her fitness level, flexibility, ball throwing, running time,
basket shooting, physical strength, and teamwork?
 
The “effectiveness” of Special Education teachers would
not be measured by any of the student assessment
provisions in SB 502.  SB 502 does not account for the
evaluation of the Special Education teachers who do not teach
subjects, but rather have caseloads of students they help to
 become proficient in their core courses.  Once the student
gains proficiency, they are exited from that Special Education
program.  Other Special Education Teachers, by definition, will
never be deemed “effective” under SB 502, because their
students are intentionally those who score low on the
standardized tests, and when they improve, they are no longer
in that teacherʼs class. 
 
SB 502 will hurt morale and cause strife between teachers
at a school.
Because of the huge difference in the way teachers will be
assessed, Language Arts teachers will be pitted against
Performing Arts teachers, and Special Education teachers. 
Some use a high-stakes standardized test over which they
have no control, another teacher writes his/her own test and
scores it his/herself, and some are exempt entirely.  This will
destroy the community and rapport in schools where, currently,
teachers work together on the behalf of students. This
teamwork will be destroyed if SB 502 is implemented in New
Mexico.
 
Thank you for taking your time to think about this
important issue,
Alyssa Agranat
Albuquerque