LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
OPINION: Talk of the Town
Misconceptions are overshadowing what鈥檚 working for New Mexico students
New Mexico's fourth graders posted the lowest reading scores on the last national reading exam (National Assessment of Education Progress), with just 20% reading proficiently. But this year鈥檚 results across New Mexico provide hope: Students who read aloud for just 20 minutes per week, using speech recognition technology purchased by the state, have gained an astonishing 10 extra weeks of reading growth compared to their peers. In Albuquerque Public Schools, students who worked with Amira grew 29% more.
Parents are understandably on edge about tech in the classroom, but what鈥檚 often lost in the conversation is exactly what this technology actually does. It helps teachers to listen to students as they read aloud, flags where they're struggling, and provides support to get them back on track. Every aspect of Amira is grounded in science of reading research. It doesn't chat with students, generate its own content or make instructional decisions. Voice data remains under the control of the school district, and families always have an option to opt their child into a paper-based version.
Amira works with 5 million students worldwide, including tens of thousands of students right here in New Mexico. Most importantly, it's the only reading intervention validated for meaningful growth by both the What Works Clearinghouse and Evidence for ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act).
Parents and educators should ask hard questions about any classroom technology. But they should also know that Amira is not a chatbot. Amira was created by Carnegie Mellon University and has been vetted and approved by more than 30 state departments of education.
Amira exists to get kids off a screen and ready to read books, on their own, with confidence. That's what we want for every student in New Mexico 鈥� and it鈥檚 working.
Mark Angel
Founder and CEO of Amira Learning
Hollywood promises don鈥檛 match NM鈥檚 economic reality
The recent article on New Mexico鈥檚 film industry (鈥�Work is coming鈥� in the Sept. 8 Journal) paints an overly rosy picture. Industry leaders鈥� optimism about a rebound and Netflix鈥檚 vague 鈥渟omething big鈥� teaser do not erase the prolonged downturn that has left many technicians and actors scrambling for side work. Applause for 鈥渨ork is coming鈥� is understandable after years of scarcity, but it does not constitute recovery.
More troubling is the state鈥檚 continued heavy investment in film incentives 鈥� well over $130 million a year 鈥� while far larger economic drivers receive less attention. In its heyday the film sector鈥檚 contribution was modest. Oil and gas, by contrast, generated roughly $71 billion in total output, about 100 times the film industry鈥檚 peak impact. Pouring scarce public dollars into a volatile, incentive-dependent industry while under-emphasizing the sector that actually underwrites the state鈥檚 economy is poor prioritization.
New Mexico should celebrate legitimate growth wherever it occurs. But cheerleading intermittent production announcements and federal incentive talk while ignoring the scale of oil and gas revenue does a disservice to taxpayers and to a clear-eyed assessment of the state鈥檚 economic reality.
John Lonergan
Santa Fe
Local libraries should find ways to serve public during construction
The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Library system must occasionally undergo maintenance, even to its roofs. That is the case for San Pedro Library, where roof work began Aug. 10. The work is scheduled for four months. During that time, the library is closed to the public. The library administration has decided that for those four months not one of the books in the library will be available to the public.
The reason given by the library administration is that employees cannot cross a construction zone.
But the construction crew does not work evenings. Some library employees do. When the construction crew goes home, a library employee can access one of the multiple doors into the library and retrieve books that the public wants to read, books that the courier can deliver to other libraries.
The Erna Fergusson Public Library is scheduled for repair Sept. 21. A similar plan is in place. Two libraries whose books are unavailable to the public is even worse.
Library administrators are not thinking of their users 鈥� the people who fund the libraries. Their lack of imagination is terribly disappointing and aggravating.
The library administration needs to meet the public鈥檚 needs, not vice versa.
Cristina Zepeda
Albuquerque
The country could learn from New Mexicans
I don鈥檛 think New Mexico needs a new name but I think Trump is correct 鈥� New Mexico is the New America. New Mexico celebrates its multicultural population 鈥� at least 19 different pueblo communities, multiple Apache and Navajo bands, European settlers since the late 1500s and continuing until now. These communities speak many different languages in addition to English.
New Mexico is continuing to explore ways to better take care of its children and youth 鈥� scholarships for college education, free childcare; money is scarce but new ideas are not.
The rest of the country can learn a lot from New Mexicans.
Barbara Petersen
Albuquerque
