ECS
2012 State of the State Address
Education-Related Proposals
New Mexico


Education Commission of the States • 700 Broadway, Suite 810 • Denver, CO 80203-3442 • 303.299.3600 • fax 303.296.8332 • www.ecs.org

The following summary includes education-related proposals from the 2012 state of the state address. To assure that this information reaches you in a timely manner, minimal attention has been paid to style (capitalization, punctuation) or format.

Governor Susana Martinez's State of the State Address

PROPOSALS

Accountability
-- Develop preliminary, baseline grades for New Mexico schools. By this summer, every school will receive an official letter grade – A, B, C, D, or F.

Assessment - College Entrance Exams, Formative/Interim
-- Assess kids from the 4th to 10th grades to catch kids before they fall too far behind.
-- Pay for 10th graders to take the Pre-SAT.

High-School - Advanced Placement, Drop-out Rates
-- Expand access to Advanced Placement classes for low-income students.
-- Raise graduation rates.

Reading/Literacy
-- Assess children early on – in kindergarten, first, second grade…
-- Buy every New Mexico first grader a reading book of their very own.
-- Encourage parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to read to their children.
-- Invest $17 million in reading reforms
-- Ensure every child learns the basics and identify and help those who struggle before the third grade.
-- Provide immediate help through tutoring and extra individual attention to students who are struggling.
-- Put more reading coaches in elementary schools.

Teacher Quality - Evaluations
-- Develop a new teacher evaluation system.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Finance
-- Protected classroom spending.
-- School districts cut administrative waste and increased the percentage of their funding that went directly into the classroom.

Demographics - Condition of Children
-- Provided school clothes for kids most in need.

http://www.governor.state.nm.us/uploads/PressRelease/191a415014634aa89604e0b4790e4768/stateofstate2012.pdf