New superintendent introduces own measure to track student performance

ALBUQUERQUE — Albuquerque Public Schools' new superintendent, Winston Brooks, thinks No Child Left Behind doesn't always show schools have improved so he's introducing his own accountability measure to track student performance.

Brooks, who became head of Albuquerque schools in July, wants to increase student proficiency by 9 percentage points districtwide over the next three years, a measurable target that's new for New Mexico's largest school district.

"We've never done that before," he said. "We always just kind of say with a hope and a prayer that we hope we get better. But now we're actually giving some measurable targets to hit, not just for the district, but every single school will have that target."

Brooks has a list of areas to improve, including reading and math skills based on state assessments, test participation rates, achievement gaps between ethnic, racial and economic groups and graduation, dropout and truancy rates.

If Brooks' experience at his last superintendent position in Wichita, Kan., is any indication, he should be successful in Albuquerque.

"He was our superintendent for 10 years, and every year, our test scores increased, our dropout rate went down. Our graduation rate now is almost up to 79 percent, which is very good for an urban district," said Wichita school board member Connie Dietz.

Dietz said Brooks was willing to try new programs until the district found what worked, he was aggressive in going after funding for his ideas, and he had "passion" for urban students.

"I just don't want to think about how much money we spent on professional development, but it's changing the way people teach and the way they react to our kids," Dietz said. "It was money very well spent."

Brooks also wants to boost student proficiency in Albuquerque through professional development to help teachers better involve students and make instruction relative to their lives.

"I think the days of teachers standing in front of a classroom and talking is long gone," he said. "Our kids don't live that way. We don't live that way. We expect immediate gratification."

Tight school budgets across the nation are forcing schools to cut programs that go beyond the basics. But Brooks said research shows children who play musical instruments do better academically, and a survey of Fortune 500 chief executive officers showed they were all highly engaged in high school activities.

"It's not reading and math that's motivating kids," he said.

He also wants principals in the classrooms, even if it's just a 20-second walkthrough once a week to see what's happening.

The curriculum should be aligned districtwide. In a high poverty district like Albuquerque, students often move between schools. The curriculum needs to match so they don't fall behind, Brooks said.

The main thing, he said, is to take a multifaceted approach when measuring school improvement, something No Child Left Behind does not do.

A recent state report showed 68 percent of New Mexico's schools did not reach their state-established improvement goals this year.

Brooks agreed with New Mexico Public Education Secretary Veronica Garcia that NCLB can be unfair. Of 128 schools tested in Albuquerque, 106 failed to meet annual yearly progress, according to data from district spokesman Rigo Chavez.

Rio Grande High School did not meet the state goals, yet it had a 25 percent growth in reading compared with the previous year in the latest round of testing. "That they're still identified as a failing school, I think is unfair," Brooks said.

The federal government placed a 2 percent cap on the number of children in a district who could take an alternative assessment for special education students, Brooks said.

In the Albuquerque district, 12 percent of the students are in special education — yet 10 percent of them must take the regular tests.

Brooks said the federal government has the cap to maintain the rigor of the testing. "But who in their right mind and what parent would agree to put a kid in special ed that didn't really need to be in special ed just so they could pass a state assessment? That's kind of far-fetched," he said.

Brooks also suggested New Mexico consider using a growth model for its assessments, so low-ranked schools get credit for huge proficiency gains.

He also supports higher pay for teachers, pay incentives to encourage teachers to stay in less desirable schools and smaller class sizes — one teacher to 15 or 18 students in kindergarten and early elementary grades.

He also would abolish a 2014 deadline for schools to reach 100 percent proficiency, which he called "nuts." "If the country continues to insist that we're going to be 100 percent proficient by 2014, I would venture to guess that 99 percent, if not higher, of all the school districts across this country would be identified as failing schools, and that's just not fair," he said.

That said, Brooks does not think NCLB has been bad for education. "At the end of the day, all of us across this country will have a better education system than we did before NCLB, and I think that's because of all the focus on education," he said.




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