HOUSE MEMORIAL 21

55th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2022

INTRODUCED BY

Joy Garratt and Brian G. Baca and Raymundo Lara

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE HIGHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AND THE OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION, TO DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO ENHANCE THE RECRUITMENT, PREPARATION, LICENSING, INDUCTION, MENTORING, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF SCHOOL LEADERS IN NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, effective school leadership is second only to teaching for having the greatest effect on a student's constitutional and human right to a quality and sufficient education; and

     WHEREAS, knowledgeable and skillful school principals are foundational to the improvement of education in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, research shows that improvement of school principal qualifications results in improved academic and social-emotional outcomes for students of all identities, particularly for children placed at risk from poverty, cultural and linguistic differences or intellectual development disorders; and

     WHEREAS, the research also suggests that insufficient preparation and high rates of school principal turnover have a negative effect on student outcomes that disproportionately impacts high-poverty schools and schools in need of assistance; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico faces significant challenges in recruiting and retaining well-prepared, stable and diverse school principals who support local improvement across New Mexico's multifaceted communities and schools; and

     WHEREAS, research demonstrates clear benefits of having a diverse school principal workforce, particularly among women of color who face biases and barriers in the pathway to principalship, as these barriers have negative implications for individuals in the school principal pipeline and educational quality overall; and

     WHEREAS, the last comprehensive study of school principal preparation and support was in 2008 when the state legislature unanimously approved Senate Joint Memorial 3, which called for the office of educational accountability of the department of finance and administration, the public education department and the higher education department to collaborate with school districts and institutions of higher education in the development of a plan to enhance the preparation and support of school principals and other educational leaders; and

     WHEREAS, the role of the school principal is changing, with increasing demands on school leaders to serve as culturally responsive instructional leaders who can positively influence student health and wellness, school safety, school performance and operational and staff oversight; and

     WHEREAS, school principals are expected to fill many roles that move far beyond administrative tasks, including setting a schoolwide vision for student learning and outcomes, creating a schoolwide climate that is hospitable to learning, providing instructional leadership with educators, nurturing a professional learning community with the educators in the school and cultivating leadership in others so that the school operates on a distributive and collaborative leadership model; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has invested millions of dollars in fast-track regional education cooperatives designed to prepare the next generation of aspiring leaders, in-service professional learning for a relatively small number of novice and experienced school principals through principals pursuing excellence and accreditation of alternative pathways to educational leadership through such programs as the master's degree of business administration; and

     WHEREAS, these fragmented and piecemeal efforts to improve school principal qualifications have been inadequate and incomplete, and alternative school principal preparation and support programs have not been subjected to the same rigorous review as programs offered through the state's higher education institutions; and

     WHEREAS, it will take a comprehensive approach to make deep and lasting improvements in New Mexico's diverse communities and schools through building a stable infrastructure that enables aspiring, novice and experienced school principals to build socially just and equitable schools and lead the state toward a system that works for all New Mexico children; and

     WHEREAS, although New Mexico has unique challenges that must be met, states and nations that have improved education effectively have addressed the importance of strengthening knowledgeable and skillful school principals by implementing recommendations from national convenings, such as the education commission of the states and the Wallace foundation; and

     WHEREAS, successful strategies for addressing school principal shortages and strengthening the school principal workforce include policies that address candidates' cost of entry and quality of preparation and support, including rigorous recruitment, pre-service preparation, full-time paid internships with a minimum of six hundred hours or one semester on authentic problems of practice in the field, revised licensing procedures as aligned with the 2015 professional standards for educational leaders and quality induction, mentoring and professional development in such areas as culturally responsive instructional leadership, positive school climate and culture, safe and caring schools, supervision and evaluation, campus administration and supervision and evaluation; and

     WHEREAS, the deans and directors of New Mexico's higher education principal preparation programs met in October 2017 and passed a resolution asking the public education department for a renewal of agency action to revise its licensure requirements in alignment with the 2015 professional standards for educational leaders; and

     WHEREAS, the revised standards would be used for rigorous review and approval of university-level and alternative educational leadership preparation programs by the public education's professional practices review committee, state and national accreditation review and as a guide for new metrics for the licensing and evaluation of school principals and assistant principals; and

     WHEREAS, advancing student learning and equitable outcomes require more than technical knowledge, and educational leaders need new standards to guide their preparation and development on an expanding base of leadership knowledge, skills and dispositions; and

     WHEREAS, these supports are needed to grow and retain school leaders who are prepared to ensure that every New Mexico public school student has access to knowledgeable and skilled school leaders; and

     WHEREAS, a comprehensive system of leadership preparation and development could result in improvements in the climate and culture of the schools, decreased school principal turnover and improved student academic and social-emotional outcomes;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislative education study committee be requested to develop a comprehensive plan, working with the public education department, the higher education department and the office of educational accountability of the department of finance and administration to ensure a coherent statewide system of effective school principal preparation and support that improves the educational system in New Mexico in which every child can strive and thrive; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the comprehensive plan be requested to include short- and long-term goals and action steps to address the deficiencies identified in the Martinez/Yazzie readiness assessment to meet the needs of students, families and the communities in which students live and strive; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the comprehensive plan be requested to expand on existing plans and recommendations developed by New Mexico school principal evaluation stakeholders; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state agencies be requested to collaborate with school districts, institutions of higher education, the national monitoring study of student achievement, the national education association, the American federation of teachers, other appropriate officials and business, tribal and community leaders in the development of a plan to enhance the recruitment, preparation, evaluation and professional development of school principals and other educational leaders in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state agencies be requested to build on lessons learned from research and high-quality national and international program models that would support the preparation and development of strong, equitable and ethical school leaders in New Mexico who are ready to improve conditions in New Mexico's schools and communities; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative education study committee be requested to provide a report on the state's findings and recommendations on a comprehensive policy and investment approach to elevate school leadership in New Mexico by December 31, 2022; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the chair of the legislative education study committee, the secretary of public education, the secretary of higher education, the secretary of early childhood education and care, the secretary of Indian affairs, the legislative finance committee, members of the Indian education advisory council, members of the Hispanic education advisory council, members of the bilingual multicultural education advisory council and the regents, chancellors and presidents of the state institutions of higher education.

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