School district report cards are out

The New Mexico Vistas accountability data on student proficiency, growth, graduation and attendance of Socorro and Magdalena schools have been posted online.

Socorro School District

“My reaction to the Vista Scores is both cautious optimism and concern,” Socorro Superintendent Joyce Gormley said.

Two schools within the Socorro Consolidated Schools District have been named New Mexico PED Vista Spotlight Schools.

Cottonwood Charter, with a score of 77 out of 100, and Midway Elementary, with a score of 64.1 out of 100, earned the distinction. According to the PED website, Spotlight schools are recognized for academic success, ranking in the top 75% of schools.

Parkview Elementary (score of 46.6), Socorro Middle School (score of 40), San Antonio Elementary (score of 54.1), and Socorro High (score of 56.4) all received a traditional school rating. According to the PED, this rating signifies that a school is in good standing and does not require additional support or intervention.

As a district, Socorro consolidated schools have math proficiency of 22%, reading proficiency of 43%, and science proficiency of 37%. New Mexico Schools in the state average have a math proficiency of 25%, a reading proficiency of 43% and a science proficiency of 35%.

For Gormley, some highlights include the district’s reading scores, which have steadily improved, resulting in a 10% increase overall over two years. She said math proficiency across the entire district remains significantly low and is not showing the same improvement as math, “which is where some of my concern lies.”

“Additional highlights for Socorro High are the annual increases in science proficiency for three years in a row and we are now slightly above state average in science proficiency,” Gormley said, “SHS increased 8.3 points in the school rating in one year due to growth in ELA proficiency on the SAT, growth in English Language Learner proficiency on ACCESS, increase in attendance, and growth in our college and career readiness that all contributed to the increase in our Vista score.”

As a district, Socorro has a math growth in the 54th percentile, reading growth in the 62nd percentile and an annual change in the 4-year graduation rate over three years of - 5.5%

Gormley said the growth data provide a more reliable measure of student learning in a small school setting, because they reflect how each child progresses rather than how many reach a particular cut score.

In the district as a whole, 61.9% of students were present on more than 90% of enrolled school days. Under college and career readiness, 87.4% of Socorro High School students have participated in college and career courses.

Magdalena School District

In the Magdalena School District, Magdalena Elementary School has been designated a Comprehensive Support and Improvement school, which indicates Schools scoring in the bottom 5% of Title I schools overall or that have a graduation rate below 67%.

Magdalena High School received a traditional school rating (55.4 out of 100), along with Magdalena Middle School (56.2 out of 100).

“I’m pleased that both our middle and high schools earned a traditional rating. It reflects strong work from our staff and students. That said, we’re still pushing to become a spotlight school and reach the top 25% in the state.” Magdalena Middle/High School Principal, Chris Backstrom, said.

He said the graduation rate moved from 87% to 85%, which is expected, given how often students transfer between Magdalena, Alamo and Socorro. He said mobility affects their numbers; however, he said they will remain committed to supporting every student who walks through the doors.

“Our five-year graduation rate is still over 90%.” Backstrom said. “The highlight is consistency. Both schools performed solidly. Our next big focus is improving our high school SAT scores and our middle school math scores.”

As a district, Magdalena has math proficiency at 17%, reading at 36% and science at 32%. For growth, Magdalena showed 50.5th percentile in math growth, 50th percentile in reading growth and a 2% decline in graduation rate.

In overall regular attendance across the district, 58% of students were present more than 90% of enrolled school days. Under college and career readiness, 76.8% of Magdalena High School students have participated in college and career courses.

Superintendent Kimberly Ortiz said the highlights of the report are the growth seen over the past few years and the plan in place at each school sites to improve student proficiency.

“I was pleased to see our students exceeded the average state growth in all areas except graduation rate. While we have not met all our proficiency goals, it is impossible for us to get there without growth. In the long run, I do believe we will not only meet these goals, but exceed them,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz said while graduation rate is always something they strive for, the way the indicator is calculated could be the difference between just one student completing graduation.

The NM Vistas is a public data website created by the Public Education Department that displays school performance based on state accountability measures and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Details of the results can be found at nmvistas.org