NM Backs Higher Admissions Standards

By KRWG News

New Mexico – State Education Secretary Veronica Garcia is supporting a proposal by University of New Mexico President David Schmidly to raise admissions requirements.

Garcia says the UNM proposal builds on her department's high school redesign course requirements.

She says 2013 high school seniors will graduate with a diploma of excellence, which aligns with course requirements UNM is proposing for admission.

The department and UNM faculty have been working for two years to ensure that high school math and English standards align with university courses.

The Public Education Department also requires New Mexico high schools to offer at least two years of one foreign language, encouraging students to meet UNM's foreign language requirement.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.