Editor,
Discussions of the overall performance of Los Alamos Public Schools (LAPS) have emerged during the candidate forums for the School Board Candidates. Earlier I discussed in the Reporter the state rankings found on national web sites that indicated a significant decline in the ranking for our middle school and high school. These websites use the assessment data from the state department of education and we are able to independently view the same assessments. The state reports reading proficiency results for each school. Here we collect the 11th grade results for Los Alamos High School. The chart below is the percent of students scoring not proficient on the state exam.
Source: https://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/bureaus/accountability/achievement-data/
The number of students that score below proficient has essentially tripled over the range of the assessment data. In 2005 the percentage not proficient was about 10%, and by 2019 it was over 30%. The weakening website rankings discussed in our earlier article are then reflected in the raw state data. Individual teachers do not have enough authority to cause this large an increase. This increase is only possible with the management misdirecting significant student time away from fundamentals. It has to be from the school board and superintendent level. We clearly need a new school board, vote for Paul Anthony Jaramillo, Nickole Aguilar Garcia and Rick Mooday next Tuesday.
David Reagor
Los Alamos County Councilor