By Taylor Velazquez, KUNM
June 9, 2025
The Kids Count Data book measures 16 indicators based in four issue areas – family and community, health, economic well-being, and education.
New Mexico ranks 50th in overall child well being, education, and family and community, 49th in economic well being, and 46th in health.
The numbers reflect the hardships brought on by the pandemic up to 2023.
In education, proficiency rates worsened with data from fourth graders not reading at grade level, while eighth graders struggled in math. However, the state did improve with high school students graduating on time and fewer teenage students working.
Gabrielle Uballez, Executive Director for New Mexico Voices for Children says the state’s poor performance reflects remote learning during the pandemic and the subsequent learning loss during those two years of school closures, but the responsibility to improve education is multifaceted.
“If our kids aren’t learning at the pace they need to, it’s going to be harder for them to be able to get into good jobs when they become grown adults. We increased teacher pay this year, which hopefully improves in retention of teachers and their ability to teach. We also think and we know that, kids don’t learn just in the classroom. We also need to keep pace with how kids are supported outside of school,” Uballez said.
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