“This is the first of many steps we will take to transform education in this state,” Gov. Lujan Grisham said. “High-stakes tests like PARCC do our schools a disservice, and we are about empowering our school system. Including those who will be most empowered by a better assessment in the process will help us build something better from the ground up, as opposed to a test mandated from on high.”

In a second executive order, Lujan Grisham called for an end to using PARCC in teacher evaluations. Reaching out to stakeholders in a similar fashion, the department will, under the order, strive to achieve balance in its ratings and assessments by incorporating into its analysis a variety of proven means of measuring teacher efficacy and performance.

The governor also announced that Lt. Gov. Howie Morales will take on the duties and responsibilities of Cabinet secretary at the Public Education Department until the administration identifies a full-time appointee to lead the agency.

Morales began his career as a special education teacher and was an aggressive supporter of classroom issues in the state Senate. He holds a doctorate in education from New Mexico State University.

“We have interviewed great candidates for the Public Education Department, but we’re not going to fill a vacancy just to fill it,” Lujan Grisham said. “In the meantime, the lieutenant governor has graciously agreed to lend his expertise and energy to this crucial department.”

“This is a new day in New Mexico,” Lt. Gov. Morales said. “We are going to change the culture at the Public Education Department, so New Mexicans know the state is there in support of our educators and students, not as a police department.”

The governor and lieutenant governor were joined in the Cabinet Room by educators Loyola Cortina of Valle Vista Elementary, Billie Helean of Maggie Cordova Elementary, Michelle Ortega of El Camino Real Academy and Roxanne Seagraves at the New Mexico School for the Arts.

The New Mexico chapter of the American Federation of Teachers has released a statement in the wake of the signing of the order.

“In dismantling the use of the “Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers” – better known as PARCC – and directing the New Mexico Public Education Department to work with not only education professionals and administrators, but also parents and students, Governor Lujan Grisham, and Lt. Governor Howie Morales, an experienced and trusted educator himself, has made it clear that education professionals and the communities we serve will once again be empowered to use our expertise and experiences to create and implement assessments and instruction that better serves our students," said AFT NM President Stephanie Ly. "Lessening high-stakes testing in our classrooms and the former punitive consequences associated with these tests is a major shift in our schools’ learning environments for both students and educators."