The New Mexico Public Education Department released a new school rating system for the 2023 school year in which Santa Fe High was ranked in the fifth tier of seven designations. SFHS was designated an Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI) school, which NMPED defines as a school that serves “a student group that is performing in the lowest 5% of all schools.”

The reasons Santa Fe High has been rated so low is because of poor attendance, disappointing graduation rates, and inadequate learning growth rates. 

Rankings

The tiers are Excellance, Spotlight, Traditional, Targeted Support and Improvement, Additional Targeted Support and Improvement, Comprehensive Support and Improvement, and More Rigorous Intervention. 

The rankings can be confusing. For example, Acequia Madre Elementary School was placed in the Excellence tier, with an overall score of 80. On other hand, Tesuque Elementary School was given an overall score of 61, which is the same as Santa Fe High, but it is ranked as a Spotlight school. It is also confusing because the other Santa Fe ATSI schools have scores of 31 and 38.

Attendance

NMPED calculates attendance rates by the percentage of students who attend 90 percent of school days. According to NMPED, the state’s average attendance rate is 50 percent, meaning only half of students attend 90 percent of school days. Santa Fe High’s attendance rate is 29 percent. 

If a SFHS student misses more than 18 days out of the 180 school days, they are considered to be chronically absent by NMPED. 

Graduation Rates

The overall graduation rate at Santa Fe High has decreased since the 2021-22 school year, from 84 percent in 2021-2022 to 80 percent in 2023. The three leading demographics that have a graduation rate greater than 80 percent are American Indian, Asian, and White. Students whose second language is English still have around a 80 percent graduation rate.

Math

Santa Fe High’s math proficiency score stayed the same between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, at 18 percent. The culprit behind SFHS’s low math proficiency is the SAT math section as juniors continue to score below the standard on the SAT math section year after year. 

However, Santa Fe High’s science and reading proficiency scores increased: reading proficiency increased by 3 percent, and science increased by 2 percent.

PED secretary Arsenio Romero spoke to the Santa Fe Reporter on these issues, saying, “We don’t have enough students graduating, we don’t have enough students proficient in math or reading and we don’t have enough students coming to school on a regular basis.” (Mr. Romero’s solution is to have more school days.)

Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Hilario Chavez told SFR that he thinks the schools in Santa Fe are on the rise: “We’re consistently showing upward progress,” he said.

Demon POV

The Demon Tattler talked to math teacher Mr. Tayofa about the school’s low math scores. He said, “There is no magic cure for this except for teachers to teach more and for students to learn more, retain more, and do much better on standardized tests.“  He believes this is the way to increase Santa Fe High’s math scores.

Assistant Principal Jaime Chavez told the Tattler that “the data is based on a subgroup.” a  minority demographic. She also said the school is doing things to improve such as, “Teachers are taking accurate attendance, our counselors and admin are working with kids who are behind on credits, and we are creating success plans for struggling students.” She also said that the data are all from juniors.