It seems each year, the New Mexico Department of Education introduces another standardized test that critics say takes away from classroom learning.
However, it’s not only the teachers who find that the tests cut into their daily activities.
Counselors at Española Valley High School estimate they spend more than three-and-a-half months out of the academic year performing duties that take away from their core mission of making sure students have what they need to graduate.
Three of the high school’s four counselors asked the Española School Board, April 19, to hire a test coordinator so they could spend less time sharpening pencils and providing test security, and more time addressing students’ academic, social and emotional needs.
Counselor Margaret Alire told Board members that hiring a high school site test coordinator will enable the counseling staff to carry out the duties they were hired to perform. The counselors double as test coordinators for the Partnership for College and Career Readiness (PARCC), the Standards Based Assessment (SBA) and end-of-course exams.
“As we start testing, each assessment takes about three weeks to prepare for, and do make-ups,” she said. “We are looking at 15 weeks being taken away from our counseling duties. Our concern is we are taking a lot of time away from the needs of our students.”
She said the additional manpower would give counselors more time to interact with parents and students.
“They (the other school districts) also have a tech person assigned to their districts just to assist in all the troubleshooting,” Alire said. “We had a few issues, and we still do with our computers, and so forth, so we would appreciate that help.”
School Board Vice President Yolanda Salazar wanted to know if the districts that have test coordinators pay for them out of a grant or the General Fund.
While Alire said she didn’t know how other districts funded the position, she believes the District should be able to afford the expenditure.
Based on a conservative estimate of 35 hours a week, at $25 per hour, the site coordinator could cost the District about $13,125, before taxes, for the entire year.
Board President Ruben Archuleta asked the counselors if they thought it would be a good idea to consider hiring a District-wide coordinator. The answer was definitely “No.”
Alire’s colleague, Landen Elliot-Knaggs, expressed concern that assigning the proposed position to the entire District would do very little to address the manpower shortage.
“We do have a District test coordinator, Holly Martinez, who helps with all the elementary schools, but at the high school we are testing, I don’t know, 600 or 700 students, all at once,” he said. “We could probably share with the middle school. But as far as covering the entire District, we already have someone doing that. She is doing her best, but already has a lot on her plate.”
Alire said parents should know that when they have a hard time reaching counselors, seeking information regarding their child’s progress, it is because they are probably performing testing duties.
“Parents are calling us and asking us questions about their students passing or failing,” she said. “But we aren’t there to answer the phone calls. It is very difficult to be in two places at once.”
Acting superintendent Denise Johnston promised to look into the possibility of allocating a stipend to carry out those duties. She said from what she recalls, as a Santa Fe District administrator, test coordinators receive compensation for performing testing duties.
A key to filling the position was to find a volunteer, as opposed to randomly assigning a person to the test coordinator duties.
“In Santa Fe Schools, we paid a stipend,” Johnston said. “It didn’t fall on the counselors.”