Review of Academic Achievement at Te Tsu Geh Oweenge Day School in New Mexico

We performed this inspection of Te Tsu Geh Oweenge Day School, a grant-operated day school for students in kindergarten through grade 6, located on the Pueblo of Tesuque in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We evaluated programs the school had in place to help close the educational achievement gap. The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law in January 2002, requires schools to complete a comprehensive needs assessment to help them develop a strategy to meet the specific needs of their unique student populations.

 

We found that Te Tsu Geh Oweenge School had a comprehensive needs assessment that did not address a number of critical areas. Since the Te Tsu Geh Oweenge School’s assessment was incomplete, specific needs of the school’s unique student population may remain unknown to school administrators, leaving the school unable to effectively prioritize its resources to ensure the successful educational achievement of its student population.

 

In addition, school children may have mastered conversational English but not yet be able to express themselves effectively using academic English, the formal written, auditory, and visual language used in learning environments. All states require some type of English language learner (ELL) assessment. We found that Te Tsu Geh Oweenge Day School had not administered ELL assessments. 

 

We provided three recommendations to help Te Tsu Geh Oweenge Day School improve its educational achievement efforts. Also, we recently learned that the school has begun making a number of improvements since our visit last year.