State officials say New Mexico students have improved their performance in math, reading and science during the past six years, but about three-fourths of schools missed this year's goals for boosting student achievement.

Public Education Secretary Susanna Murphy released the latest testing information on Monday that showed 644 schools — or 78 percent — didn't reach state-established improvement goals this year. That's up from 560 schools, or 68 percent, in 2009.

Murphy said the goal of making "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, under the federal No Child Left Behind Act is not the best yardstick for measuring the success of public schools. She said parents should look at student achievement trends and the reasons an individual school did not meet annual performance objectives.



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