MALDEF Announces Investigation Into New Mexico Minority Students’ Lagging Performance
At a conference held by New Mexico’s Latino Education Task Force, an attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) said his organization has launched an investigation into the state’s persistent low graduation rates and test scores among Hispanic students.The achievement gap now under investigation has been a long studied issue among Hispanic students and has also been the focus of reform efforts from both the state and the Albuquerque Public School system (APS).
According to the Latino Education Task Force, Hispanic, African American, and Native American students made up about 70 percent of New Mexico’s students, but lag behind their white counterparts in the state.
While just 49 percent of Hispanic eighth graders are proficient in reading, white students are at 72 percent, according to the New Mexico Public Education Department. Also, about 69 percent of white third-graders are
