Senate Bill 29 if it becomes law, would increase the mathematics requirements for teachers in New Mexico. The bill passed the Senate last week and passed its second House committee today. Advocacy group Teach Plus New Mexico has supported the bill throughout the session. Albuquerque kindergarten teacher and Teach Plus Policy Fellow Lauren Scott spoke with KSFR at the Roundhouse for a chat about her work with Teach Plus New Mexico.
KSFR: What has your policy fellowship with Teach Plus New Mexico entailed so far?
Lauren Scott: What it has entailed is almost an 18-month fellowship where we've learned about a topic and then thought about what actions we could take to really improve student outcomes in that area. So my area is math, and a lot of time was spent researching math teachers in New Mexico, math levels of proficiency, and then really looking what legislative actions could bring those together.
Tell me about why math specifically is important for young New Mexicans and their futures.
It's critical. For young New Mexicans, we're setting up how they're going to feel about math for the rest of their lives. That determines if they have a positive view of math, and if they engage with it with ease—even when they do their taxes or have to understand health insurance or anything like that. Or, work with their own child with math. And so it's really important as an early childhood teacher that I'm building a strong math mindset and also giving them the critical skills to understand math.
In addition to those things that you listed, is there also an aspect that has to do with a changing career landscape where math will be more useful?
Yes, absolutely. We don't know what jobs the future holds, but we have some idea. It's going to take people who can use mathematical tools, including the idea of reasonableness and looking at data. Really, math helps us understand the world, and so we need really good thinkers in that area.
So I know SB, 29 has passed the Senate. Are you hopeful for the bill? Do you think it has support through the House and the governor's support?
I'm very hopeful. I don't know anything about the governor's specific support of the bill, but I assume with her focus on education, this is something that she wants for New Mexican children. With everything she's done for early childhood, this would align. We have spent a lot of time as policy fellows reaching out to members in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, and there's a lot of support for the bill there.
Why is this kind of advocacy work with Teach Plus important to you personally?
It's so important because system-level change is going to change outcomes. In my perspective, we need to, as a society, stop focusing on individuals and really think what systems are behind these individuals, and how can we support from the ground up. And that's what this math bill does—it says we need to change educator prep programs and traditional and alternative licensure programs to require math credit hours. That way every teacher that enters the classroom really understands what they're teaching and why they're teaching it.
So give me an example of where math knowledge might be lacking in the classroom.
An area it can be lacking is for teachers actually understanding their own data. And I can even speak to myself. Before I had these professional development courses in numeracy and number sense, it was hard for me to understand ratios and percentages, which really factors into my ability to understand proficiency levels of my students. But then, after I'd gotten these new tools, when I see that page of curves and bell curves, I can understand it. Also, I'm not afraid to ask. There's less fear around the whole topic of numbers, and that is a critical part of every teacher's job, no matter what the grade level. And it really matters to students. If we're saying a child qualifies in one area or not, we need to know what we're talking about, and it's critical.
So it's not just about teaching math, it's about understanding it yourself.
Absolutely, that's what really matters.
There was one thing that really stood out to me in your bio on the Teach Plus website, and it's that, "school isn't just about academics, but it's also about social and emotional skills." Can you talk about that a little bit?
Yeah, absolutely. I was just speaking to someone earlier and saying that relationships are the fundamental key to working together as a society. I think of that in my classroom, my relationships with my students and their ability to socially and emotionally connect with each other and even with themselves, is key to being ready to learn. And not only do I see it with my little ones, but I see it in a place like this. Going in with a friendly smile and thanking a Representative for what they have done really helps move things. And if we can all try to keep that positive relationship in mind when we're working on these really hard problems that we might have different ideas on, it'll benefit us all.
