New Mexico’s education system is one of the least efficient in the United States, with only Louisiana faring worse, according to a survey conducted by WalletHub.
WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said the report - which placed the state 50th in the country, including the District of Columbia - is conducted by their research team with mostly government-compiled data.
“We aggregate the data and develop the rankings based on the data collected,” Gonzales said.
For the specific report on rankings of the District of Columbia and each state's education system, the data-gathering team focused on the intermediate level and high school. Thus the dropout rate pertains only to high school and not college, she said.
Among the categories New Mexico scored among the bottom five were highest dropout rate and lowest math and reading scores.
Each state was compared across two key dimensions for this report, according the report: School System Quality and School System Safety.
After comparing the states and Washington, D.C. across these dimensions, Gonzales said the team then compiled 17 key metrics corresponding to each key dimension, including pupil-to-teacher ratio and remote learning opportunities via online classrooms.
As far as the weighting of the two dimensions, Gonzales said they attributed 80 points total for Quality and 20 for Safety.
Standardized testing was also taken into account, and Gonzales said that her team looked at the math and reading test scores for 4th and 8th graders, as well as average SAT/ACT scores.
Not all the news on New Mexico’s ranking was bad news.
“New Mexico has the eighth highest percentage of public elementary and secondary school teachers who met licensing/certification requirements at 99.7 percent. Also, the state has few bullying incidents, ranking 9th best for this key metric,” Gonzales said.
Alternatively, New Mexico ranked last for the Quality dimension mostly due to its second-highest high school dropout rate at almost 32 percent, and its poor performances for math and reading tests.
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Population per state was not taken into account in these rankings, Gonzales said. However, students per class was.
"We looked at the pupil-teacher ratio and New Mexico ranked slightly below average, 27th, with 15 pupils for each teacher," she said.
Students' view on New Mexico’s ranking largely focused on the living conditions for students, as well as pressure on both teachers and students respectively.
Francine Gallegos, a UNM psychology graduate working on her second degree, said a lot of the problems with the state's education system may stem from a lack of resources for elementary-aged children.
As a substitute teacher in the Los Lunas School District, Gallegos said she noticed a lot of pressure on teachers.
“Teachers often have to get supplies out of pocket and are not allowed to teach the way they want to teach,” she said. “This combined with students only being given thirty minutes to eat and play during recess creates an environment lacking in motivation for both students and teachers.”
Gallegos suggested focusing on correcting the problems that stem from this pressure, as well as the pressure from standardized testing.
“Help those that are in need (by) giv(ing) more money to education and eas(ing) pressure on teachers. Make it more fun for students; you can’t judge a student’s potential from a test,” she said.
Maya Holt, a senior mass communications and journalism major, said she believed education has been particularly hard on the state due to strict rules and students being seen as a test score instead of as a human being.
This takes the focus off students, leading teachers to focus instead on tests when they should be teaching for the betterment of the students, she said.
“I remember taking standardized tests in high school, and they threatened I wouldn't make it to college because of them," Holt said. "Here I am four years later, on the Dean's List with my Lottery Scholarship still in place.”
Removing the low rankings and test scores can help New Mexico focus on more positive things for a positive outcome, she said.
“What I'm trying to imply is that New Mexico has the potential of being great. We have wonderful people in our community and students that genuinely want to learn," she said. "I think they need to be treated more as that than (as) a low ranking."
