NM Vistas scores area school districts

The New Mexico Public Education Department has relaunched New Mexico Vistas, a website meant to make it easier for parents and school officials to understand how schools are performing. But superintendents for Clovis and Portales schools said last week it will take some time to utilize the data to their benefit.

The new system uses a point-based grading system rather than an A-F letter grade used before to classify schools.

Portales Superintendent Johnnie Cain said the system is easy to follow and understand, but he’s not yet sure how to interpret all of the information.

One concern is that the data is already a year old.

“You’re trying to make improvements from data that’s an entire year old. And so you don’t know if the improvements that you’ve made are working because you won’t know until after next year to see how much better we did this year,” Cain said.

Cain said the 2023 SAT scores and state testing data are submitted.

“I guess, it’s taking them a while to analyze it and put it into the system,” he said.

Clovis Superintendent Renee Russ said in an emailed statement that New Mexico Vistas has the potential to help schools make targeted progress and identify and celebrate where they are already experiencing success.

However, she said the information contained in the current version of the New Mexico Vistas portal is primarily a reflection of baseline student performance levels following the pandemic.

“The data presented in the relaunch is not necessarily recent or relevant,” she said.

“And the state-mandated standardized assessment on which much of the designations are anchored has lacked consistency for a number of years, making it difficult to compare achievement from one year to the next or to confidently identify performance trends.”

“Once 2022-2023 data is uploaded and factored into designation determinations, the portal will provide a more accurate reflection of current status and will become a more meaningful resource for schools and communities in understanding performance challenges and recognizing excellence,” she wrote.

The average score for New Mexico high schools is 49. The average score for elementary and middle schools is 48.

Any school that scores above the 75th percentile is considered a Spotlight School, meaning they are doing well, don’t need assistance, and deserve praise. Traditional schools score above the threshold for support and improvement.

Twelve of the schools in Curry County received a “spotlight” score, the system’s highest ranking. Four schools in Roosevelt County were “spotlight” designated.

The highest-scoring school in Curry County was Melrose High School, with a score of 67, and the lowest was Lockwood Elementary, with a score of 18. Lockwood was still designated a “traditional” school that passed the threshold for needing support and improvement.

The highest-scoring school in Roosevelt County was Dora High School, with 64 points, and the lowest-scoring was Floyd Elementary, at 26 points.

In congruence with the Every Student Succeeds Act passed by Congress in 2015, every state must maintain a system to evaluate school performance annually. New Mexico’s plan, initially approved in April 2017 and later amended and approved in July 2019, is now a point-based grading system rather than each school receiving an A-F letter grade. The data and grades for each school are kept on the New Mexico Vistas website -- newmexicoschools.com .

New Mexico Vistas is a part of the accountability section of the PED, whose goal is to keep track of students, teachers, and school administrators while also collecting test results and graduation rates to provide data on how schools and districts are performing and meeting the needs of New Mexico’s students, according to the PED website.

Paola Peacock-Villada, PED’s interim director of research, evaluation, and assessment, said New Mexico Vistas is a website created to help visualize the data.

“Our main objective, as the Department of Education in New Mexico, is for students and families, communities, teachers, and educators to be able to utilize data. And so the New Mexico Vistas website allows us to visualize school-level data across the state,” she said.

She said New Mexico Vistas is also a tool that allows the state to identify schools that are doing well and those that might need extra assistance in funding and training for teachers and administrators.

The overall score given to a school is based on a maximum score of 100. Peacock-Villada said the U.S. Department of Education recommends the new point-based grading system, and the PED has looked at this type of grading system in other states and met with experts across the country to determine the best grading method.

“And so this is the recommended point system that has been developed with partners, and stakeholders, and also with advisors from across New Mexico and the country,” Peacock-Villada said.

The PED collects the data for New Mexico Vistas from a database called STARS, where each public school in the state submits data on attendance and testing. Peacock-Villada said there are validation processes to ensure the data is accurate. The Research, Accountablity, and Evaluation Department and the Accountablity and Assessment Department double-check with all the districts to ensure the scores reported are valid, Peacock-Villada said.

PED officials have said they want to “support courageous school leaders” who pursue teaching by offering tools, resources, and coaching support. It believes supporting teachers’ professional growth is the most effective way to improve teaching and learning in New Mexico.

Once the system is established, PED plans to support the lowest-scoring schools by assigning performance coaches to help school leaders through monthly virtual coaching sessions and reviewing instructional infrastructure practices.

“The New Mexico Vistas website and data platform is intended to visualize our student education, data and empower communities, students, and families. To understand how students’ education progress is going in the state,” Peacock-Villada said.