New Mexico’s school districts with below-average student achievement have three times the percentage of English-language learners as the state’s school districts with above-average achievement, according to a recent analysis by the Rural School and Community Trust.
The Arlington, Va.-based organization found that the contrast was particularly striking when the state’s 20 lowest-achieving districts were compared with the state’s 23 highest-achieving districts.
Using that comparison, researchers found that the 20 districts at the bottom of the achievement ladder had seven times the percentage of English-language learners—43 percent vs. 6 percent—that the 23 districts at the top of the ladder had.
