Content Knowledge: New Mexico

Analysis of New Mexico's policies

New Mexico offers early childhood education licenses: birth to grade 3 and age 3 to age 8. Teacher candidates with the birth to grade 3 license must pass the Praxis Education of Young Children (5024) test. Early childhood education teacher candidates with the age 3 to age 8 license must pass the Praxis Pre-Kindergarten Education (5531) test. There is also a birth-PreK license, which does not require a test. 

Emergent Literacy and Oral Language: The Praxis Education of Young Children (5024) test addresses emergent literacy and oral language. The test requires candidates to know, "the progression of oral language development, including but not limited to expectations for listening comprehension and verbal communication, and how to facilitate and expand children's oral language and vocabulary development." Candidates are also required to "know strategies to address language delays." The test addresses emergent literacy by requiring candidates to be able to develop children's phonological awareness, concepts of print, fluency to support reading comprehension, phonics skills and how to expand children's use of vocabulary.

The Praxis Pre-Kindergarten Education (5531) test broadly addresses candidates' knowledge of "literacy concepts (e.g., phonemic awareness, vocabulary, writing, shared reading)" and "allows children the opportunity to practice developmentally appropriate concepts during everyday classroom experiences (e.g., one-to-one correspondence, phonemic awareness)."

New Mexico's competencies for PreK-3 early childhood teachers requires candidates to "Demonstrate a variety of developmentally appropriate instructional strategies that facilitate the development of emergent literacy skills."  They further specify a candidate's ability to:

• Apply strategies of differentiated instruction based on the needs of children in all areas of literacy development including oral language development.
• Facilitate activities to develop fluency; and the ability to read text accurately and rapidly.
• Facilitate vocabulary "development, including both explicit instruction and indirect vocabulary development through authentic literature, cultural relevancy, and students' experiences.
• Facilitate comprehension strategies, including instruction on predicting, re-reading, questioning, sequencing, summarizing, retelling, reading for pleasure and analytical and critical reading, activities to develop fluency, the ability to read text accurately and rapidly, and study strategies.

• Knowledge of number names and the count sequence;
• Understanding of the relationship between number name and quantities;
• Ability to use counting to determine how many objects are arranged in various configurations; and
• Understanding of the concepts of operations on rational numbers."

• Incorporate understanding of developmental stages, processes, and theories of growth, development, and learning into developmentally appropriate practice.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the interaction between maturation and environmental factors that influence physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and cultural domains in the healthy development of each child.

• Principles and strategies for effectively managing an early learning environments;
• The benefits of consistent routines and procedures;
• How to apply a variety of strategies to engage children (e.g., clapping, classroom jobs, music and movement, sharing); and
• Appropriate strategies for transitions.

• Identifies and applies strategies that promote positive behavior (e.g., redirection, modeling positive interactions, problem solving, setting limits and goals, child reflection, self-regulation skills).
• Provides opportunities for children to interact in the physical environment.
• Incorporates conflict resolution strategies.
• Has been tested on his or her knowledge of "basic methods for promoting the development of children's self-regulatory skills.

• Applying understanding of young children's need for balance, order, depth, variety, and challenge through curriculum planning, routines, and scheduling (e.g., daily, weekly, and longer-term).
• Linking child characteristics, needs, and interests with informal opportunities to build children's language, concept development, and skills.
• Applying knowledge to create environments that enrich and extent children's play including intervention strategies (i.e., questioning), respect of cultural diversity and gender equity.
• Supporting a position of the fundamental importance of play in young children's learning and development from birth - four (0-4) years of age.
• Demonstrating knowledge of the relationships among emotions, behaviors, and communication skills to assist children in identifying and expressing their feelings in appropriate ways.
• Using appropriate guidance to support the development of self-regulatory capacities in young children.

Citation

Praxis: www.ets.org New Mexico Administrative Code 6.61.8; .11 and .12

Recommendations for New Mexico

Ensure that all preschool teachers possess sufficient knowledge of emergent literacy and oral language.
New Mexico should—either through teacher preparation standards or test frameworks—ensure that all preschool teachers understand how to develop children's oral language skills and build children's emergent literacy. This understanding is important because of the critical role that preschool teachers play in language development.

Ensure that all preschool teachers possess sufficient knowledge of emergent mathematics and science.
New Mexico should—either through teacher preparation standards or test frameworks—ensure that all preschool teachers understand how to introduce and develop children's mathematical skills and effectively introduce science concepts. This understanding is crucial because early introduction to complex mathematical concepts can affect later achievement in mathematics.

Ensure that all preschool teachers possess the skills to create a positive and productive classroom environment.
Because well-run classrooms help children develop self-regulation and build academic skills, it is imperative that candidates are adequately prepared to create a positive and productive classroom environment. This includes classroom management skills, developing a child's executive functions, and creating activities where children can learn through play. New Mexico should ensure that all preschool teachers possess adequate understanding of how to develop children's executive functioning skills, build social emotional skills and manage children's play for learning purposes. This knowledge is critically important to ensuring that all preschool teachers are able to establish an environment that actively supports learning.

State response to our analysis

New Mexico recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis; however, this analysis was updated subsequent to the state's review.

Updated: February 2020