PARCC test out, S.A.T. test in for New Mexico high school students

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14) — Days after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham took office in January, she made the decision to get rid of the PARCC test, the standardized exam used in schools to evaluate students and teachers.

On Friday, New Mexico Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart announced the S.A.T. will become the official standardized test for high school students.

“Moving from the PARCC test to this type of test is actually really beneficial for (the) majority of our students,” said David Morales, a teacher at Mayfield High school.

The PARCC test was introduced to public schools across New Mexico in 2015.

Maya Gabitzsch, a senior at Centennial high school, said she never agreed with the exam and has even walked out on test day to protest it.

“We kind of just felt like test scores, not really students, and we weren’t really considered as people, just data, for higher ups,” Gabitzsch said.

Student PARCC scores were used as a deciding factor in A-F school grades and teacher evaluations.

Morales said this is something he felt was unnecessary.

“I don’t believe that test scores should be used for evaluation, I just don’t believe in that. It’s really tough to get evaluated on students’ scores, if that score doesn’t mean anything to them,” Morales said.

The president of New Mexico’s National Education Association, Mary Parr-Sanchez, said the SAT was a change that was needed across the state.

“The fact that it can serve our students, rather than harm them, is definitely an improvement,” Sanchez said.

Unlike the PARCC, the SAT won’t prevent students from graduating.

“We want to make sure our students are given a fair exam to show what they know, not that shows they know how to take a test,” Morales said.

The SAT also counts as a college entrance exam.

“They can actually use this test for college entrance and they can use it to gauge themselves against other students across the United States,” Morales said.

All New Mexico high school students beginning their junior year will be required to take the SAT, starting in spring 2020.