HM 72 — MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION TASK FORCE

HOUSEA MEMORIAL 72REQUESTING 54THTHE LEGISLATURECREATION -OF STATEA OFMULTICULTURAL NEWEDUCATION MEXICOTASK -FORCE FIRSTTO SESSION,DEVELOP 2019A INTRODUCEDDEFINITION BYOF SherylMULTICULTURAL WilliamsEDUCATION StapletonAND andTO JavierPROVIDE MartínezA andREPORT TomásON E.THE STATUS OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN NEW MEXICO.

Salazar and Angelica Rubio and Antonio "Moe" Maestas 7 9WHEREAS, Aa MEMORIALfree, REQUESTINGpublic THEand CREATIONsufficient OFeducation Ais MULTICULTURALguaranteed EDUCATIONfor TASKall FORCEchildren TOof DEVELOPNew AMexico; DEFINITION OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AND TO PROVIDE A REPORT ON THE STATUS OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN NEW MEXICO.

16and WHEREAS, aNew free,Mexicans publichonor their heritage, cultures and sufficientlanguages educationas isevidenced ein tthe 17Hispanic guaranteedEducation forAct, allthe childrenIndian ofEducation NewAct Mexico;and the Bilingual Multicultural Education Act;

and w l n d 18 WHEREAS, Newpart Mexicansof honor their heritage, cultures and = = 19 languages as evidenced in the Hispanicsignificant Educationinheritance Act,of theNew aMexico's lchildren iis aNew eMexico's rtapestry 20of Indiandiverse Educationknowledge Actsystems and thehistory Bilingualof Multiculturalmulticultural Educationcommunities; a t m m 21 Act;

and d r e 22 WHEREAS, part of the significant inheritance of New c e s k 23 Mexico's children isbring Newa Mexico'sdiversity tapestry of diverseassets knowledgeand estrengths ato ntheir blearning 24from systemstheir communities of origin and historyare ofthe multiculturalstate's communities;treasure;

and u [ WHEREAS, New Mexico's children bring a diversity of assets .214516.1 and strengths to their learning from their communities of origin and are the state's treasure;

and WHEREAS, New Mexico ranks fiftieth in reading HM 72 Page 1 proficiency and forty-ninth in math proficiency among the states;

and WHEREAS, Hispanic, Native American and African American e e 17 students are dropping out of high school or post-secondary e e n d 18 education in numbers that severely threaten the social and = = l ] 19 economic welfare of the state;

and a l r i 20 WHEREAS, these students represent a significant portion of t e a t New Mexico's future workforce;

and m m 21 e d r e 22 WHEREAS, technological innovations continue to create jobs c e r c 23 for a skilled workforce, and New Mexico's students must be e a n b 24 prepared for the jobs of the future;

and u [ WHEREAS, a well-educated workforce and citizenry is widely .214516.1 - 2 - viewed as the basis for economic stability and competitiveness;

and WHEREAS, the ability of highly qualified teachers to address the learning needs of all New Mexico's students, HM 72 Page 2 including those students who learn differently as a result of disability, culture, language or socioeconomic status, forms the framework for the New Mexico teacher competencies for licensure levels one, two and three-A assessment criteria benchmarks;

and WHEREAS, level one teachers at the provisional level must e e 17 demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to the personal e e n d 18 ideas, learning needs, interests and feelings of students with = = l ] 19 disabilities or from culturally and linguistically diverse a l r i 20 backgrounds;

and t e a t WHEREAS, level three-A teachers at the mastery level must m m 21 e d r e 22 demonstrate an awareness of the influences of context, c e r c 23 disability, language and culture on student learning;

and e a n b 24 WHEREAS, witnesses in the consolidated cases of Yazzie v.

u [ State of New Mexico and Martinez v.

State of New Mexico have .214516.1 - 3 - provided testimony on the benefits of multicultural education to New Mexico students;

and WHEREAS, multicultural education supports all students academically, culturally and personally, reversing low academic expectations, poor student-teacher relationships and marginalizing programming, such as remedial classwork, that HM 72 Page 3 commonly leads students to drop out;

and WHEREAS, testimony has revealed that a lack of professional development in culturally responsive, or e e 17 multicultural, pedagogy has been observed in school districts e e n d 18 in recent years;

and = = l ] 19 WHEREAS, culturally and linguistically responsive a l r i 20 approaches to teaching could be more clearly defined;

and t e a t WHEREAS, New Mexico only began to adopt standards for m m 21 e d r e 22 multicultural education in 2017;

and c e r c 23 WHEREAS, providing a multicultural education to e a n b 24 preschoolers is an important part of preparing a child to be u [ successful;

and .214516.1 - 4 - WHEREAS, the state must develop and support twenty-first century multicultural education for all students;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public education department be requested to convene a multicultural HM 72 Page 4 education task force to develop a definition of multicultural education and to provide a report on the status of multicultural education in New Mexico;

five members who are kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers, school principals, superintendents, e e 17 board members, other education administrators or higher e e n d 18 education faculty who are from different ethnic or religious = = l ] 19 groups and of different geographical areas of the state, with a l r i 20 at least one representing special education;

t e a t C.

five parents of multicultural students, who m m 21 e d r e 22 encompass diverse racial, ethnic, nationality, language, c e r c 23 religious, class, gender, sexual orientation and exceptionality e a n b 24 groups, with students enrolled in multicultural education u [ programs in public schools and charter schools;

.214516.1 - 5 - D.

at least one member of the senate, appointed by HM 72 Page 5 the president pro tempore of the senate;

and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of public education, the secretary of higher education, the chair of the legislative education e e 17 study committee and the chair of the legislative finance e e n d 18 committee.

=HM =72 lPage ] 19 - 6 -25 a l r i 20 t e a t m m 21 e d r e 22 c e r c 23 e a n b 24 u [ .214516.1