New Report Highlights Research-Driven, Innovative Strategies to Prepare Students for Post-secondary Success and Integrate Social-Emotional Learning Practices for Students and Staff
July 28, 2022, Albuquerque, NM—The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the need for innovative approaches throughout the education system. In a new report, Teach Plus Spotlights Innovation in Education Across New Mexico, Teach Plus New Mexico highlights three schools and two teachers in the state who are moving away from traditional educational models and are approaching teaching and learning differently in order to create positive change for students. The school innovators are Albuquerque Collegiate Charter School, Albuquerque; Altura Preparatory School, Albuquerque; and Mission Achievement Success (MAS) Charter, Albuquerque. The teacher innovators are Shari Hicks, El Capitan Elementary, Roswell; and Robbi Berry, Monte Vista Elementary, Las Cruces.
On July 15, Teach Pus staff and teacher leaders gathered in Albuquerque with education officials and community members to celebrate these innovators and their ideas and practices, and acknowledge their deep impact on student achievement. “To ensure that student success is centered in classrooms across the state, we need to make innovation a priority,” said Teach Plus New Mexico Executive Director Hope Morales. “That’s why we are so delighted to have had the opportunity to acknowledge these stellar individuals and school communities for their creative approaches while encouraging others to follow their lead.”
Teach Plus made its innovator selections based on how how well the schools are: Implementing effective innovative strategies to improve student growth and achievement, supported by data; addressing social and emotional learning needs of students and staff through these innovations; and delivering targeted professional development to staff on how to best use these innovative strategies in their work and teaching.
Among the school strategies the report amplifies are a college preparatory program focused on getting students ready for success in college and in life; and a co-teaching model in grades K-2, with each student taught by two certified teachers for differentiation in instruction. Teachers’ innovations include students designing outdoor learning spaces as part of project-based learning; and mindfulness practices for students to help identify, self-reflect, and react to their emotions.
On a panel discussion during the event speakers, including Dr. Kurt Steinhaus, NM Secretary of Education; Dr. Arsenio Romero, Superintendent of Los Lunas Schools; Roxanne Mitchell, Principal of Sandia Elementary Clovis Municipal Schools; Matt Pahl, Executive Director of Public Charter Schools of New Mexico; Jade Rivera, Director of Albuquerque Collegiate Charter; and Lorynn Guerrero, the 2022 New Mexico Teacher of the Year discussed additional effective strategies for achieving innovative practices from the classroom to district level.
“Our team at Altura Prep is thrilled and humbled to be recognized along with the other awardees for the work we’ve done so far,” said Meaghan Hindman, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Altura Preparatory School. “We believe innovation and execution go hand in hand as we strive to provide an excellent and joyful public school education in New Mexico, and we could not be prouder of our team and our students for all they’ve accomplished.”
“I am deeply humbled, encouraged, and grateful for this award,” said Shari Hicks, a Teaching to Academic Potential (ITAP) teacher leader in Roswell. “It came at a time in my career where I felt like I wasn’t making a difference. It renewed my spirit and self-esteem.”
About Teach Plus
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning, to create an education system driven by access and excellence for all. Teachplus.org
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Contact: Anya Grottel-Brown, agrottelbrown@teachplus.org, 917-902-5902
Innovation Panel: (L to R) Lindsay Sobel, Teach Plus Chief of Policy, Planning, & External Affairs (moderator); Dr. Kurt Steinhaus, New Mexico Secretary of Education; Dr. Arsenio Romero, Superintendent of Los Lunas Schools; Jade Rivera, Director of Albuquerque Collegiate Charter; Roxanne Mitchell, Principal of Sandia Elementary Clovis Municipal Schools; Lorynn Guerrero, the 2022 New Mexico Teacher of the Year; Matt Pahl, Executive Director of Public Charter Schools of New Mexico
