UNM’s College of Education dean announced an education reform that will take a “holistic” approach to teaching students throughout the state’s school systems.
Dean Richard Howell encouraged the N.M. Legislature and community members as well as those who work in education to work together and create a comprehensive education plan that would propel students through primary education into higher learning.
“The plan is designed to actually help define what student performance is in the schools and in universities, then to limit that definition to the actual teacher performance evaluation process,” he said. “What it does is bring a really good focus on how students are learning and how we can facilitate that learning.”
Howell pitched the program to the United Way of Central New Mexico’s Alexis de Tocqueville Society Sept. 14, an outline that was the starting point for the United Way’s campaign to use part of its community funding for education.
Ed Rivera, president and CEO of United Way of Central New Mexico, said Howell’s proposal has been well-received.
“We feel the time is right for a comprehensive conversation on the complicated issues surrounding education in Central New Mexico,” he said. “As a convener of key topical conversations that are intended to stimulate dialogue, it is important that many community voices are heard in forums that allow for all views.”
Howell said his “Mini Marshal Plan” would be put into place over the next four years. He said subpar education needs to be tackled by community members and teachers across the state.
“The key to the plan that I am proposing is that we, as an entire society in New Mexico, rise up and work together to try and push solutions against all the issues that exist in student learning and that prevent student learning,” he said. “We aren’t going to immediately change the course of education by doing this, but what we want to do is to produce enough result that gives the community the reasonable expectation that we can make progress.”
Too often, Howell said, the public blames teachers for educational shortcomings.
“There are a lot of other variables involved in student learning. People don’t like to deal with things like poverty, where students come to us with no books in the home or they haven’t eaten, (and) they don’t have coats in the winter,” he said. “People don’t like to deal with things like that because those are large societal problems, and it’s hard to get your hands around them, but it doesn’t mean that they went away.“
Howell said educational reform isn’t just providing students with more technology or facilities.
“It’s … working together in partnership to advance and reform the curriculum for math and science at the public school level,” he said. “Given the outcomes that we’re looking at around the state, this is a critical issue for economic development in the state of New Mexico.”
Howell said New Mexicans need to be in agreement about educational reform before change is effected.
“I personally don’t believe we are going to make progress on this issue until we have a state mandate that we all work together and leverage all of our abilities toward a single solution,” he said.
