Schools from Albuquerque, Carlsbad, Laguna Pueblo, Reserve, Roswell, Sandia Park, Santa Fe, and White Rock named 2024 Innovation Schools at Teach Plus’s annual summit
Albuquerque, NM, July 19, 2024—Students at Siembra Leadership High School in Albuquerque opened their own businesses while maintaining a focus on academics. At University High School in Roswell specially designated attendance coaches wrapped students in support to put them on track to graduate. These are just two examples of 10 New Mexico schools whose innovative practices Teach Plus is elevating at its third annual Innovation in Education summit. The schools are closing the opportunity gap for students by improving early literacy and math outcomes, meeting needs of underserved communities, and increasing the number of students who receive high school diplomas. An accompanying report, “Growing Outcomes Through Innovation: Cultivating New Mexico’s Student Success Statewide,” details each school’s innovations, results, and learnings, and lays out recommendations for policymakers to help replicate these practices across the state.
“Ensuring our students master literacy, have what they need to thrive academically, and are on a path to graduate high school is critical to postsecondary success and upward economic mobility for them and their families,” said Teach Plus New Mexico Executive Director Hope Morales. “Teach Plus and our teacher leaders believe that we must not only amplify these best practices but adopt a set of policies that empower our schools and districts to adopt these innovations to change our system and our students’ future for the better.”
The 2024 Teach Plus Innovative Schools are:
- Innovations in teaching early literacy and math: instructional practices focused on student-centered, individualized instruction designed to increase student engagement and outcomes
- Albuquerque Collegiate Charter School (Albuquerque): Data-Driven System of Support for Math
- Reserve Elementary School (Reserve): Support for Varying Educational Needs
- Chamisa Elementary School and Los Alamos Online Learning Academy (White Rock): Partnerships for Effective Learning
- Innovative support for underserved student groups: systems focused on providing high-quality support that are connected to improved outcomes for students experiencing homelessness, in foster care, and students with disabilities, groups that have the lowest graduation rate
- Siembra Leadership High School (Albuquerque): Spotlight on Entrepreneurship
- Rio Grande Academy of Fine Arts Elementary and Middle School (Albuquerque): Arts Integration and Hands-on Learning
- P.R. Leyva Middle School (Carlsbad): Multi-Classroom Leaders™
- Laguna Middle School (Laguna Pueblo): Sustaining Language, Heritage, and Community
- Innovations to increase high school graduation rates: practices that move beyond expected high school experiences, integrate unique programs or inputs, and meet the individual needs of students so that they experience postsecondary success in order to improve quality of life
- The Academy for Technology and the Classics (Santa Fe): College Crew Advisory
- University High School (Roswell): Coaching for Attendance
- East Mountain High School (Sandia Park): An Early Warning System to Support Student Success
At the convening, the schools presented their innovations to an audience of educators and systems leaders. In addition, the event featured a keynote by New Mexico Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, a panel discussion moderated by Teach Plus New Mexico 2024 Fellow of the Year Gabby Begay, and remarks by Teach Plus Executive Director Hope Morales and NMKidsCan Executive Director Amanda Aragon.
Data from assessments such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) underscore the urgency to innovate across the system. In 2022, more students in New Mexico scored below basic proficiency compared to 2019, with over half of 4th graders performing below basic in reading. This disparity is even more pronounced among low-income students and students of color, with 71 percent of students who are Native American scoring below basic in 4th grade reading.
The report puts forth the following policy recommendations for state leaders:
- Fully fund initiatives that allow more schools access to effective programs and resources.
- Ensure that alternative schools that serve non-traditional students can utilize metrics that better reflect their programs and objectives for their students.
- Redefine “college and career readiness” and update metrics that more accurately connect to students’ postsecondary success as measured by the Higher Education Department and Human Services Department.
- Leverage teacher leadership programs and roles as a lever for teacher effectiveness and retention.
- Increase student access to high-performing charters by supporting the renewal, expansion, and approval of schools that have shown demonstrable student success.
- Implement a system that identifies, tracks, and communicates system innovations that provide targeted support to students and improves their outcomes.
Launched in 2022, Teach Plus’s innovation work focuses on holistically understanding New Mexico’s students and communities and their needs and identifying solutions that move teaching, learning, and academic outcomes forward. This year, 49 nominations across 33 school districts were submitted to Teach Plus, the largest number to date. Once finalized, an expert judging panel scored them based on the quality of the innovation, the effectiveness of the system, and its replicability.
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. In pursuing this mission, Teach Plus is guided by the Student Opportunity Mandate: All students should have the opportunity to achieve their potential in an education system defined by its commitment to equity, its responsiveness to individual needs, and its ability to prepare students for postsecondary success. Since 2009, Teach Plus has trained thousands of teacher leaders across the country who are driving policy changes and improving the instructional practices of teachers to create an education system driven by equity, access, and excellence for all students. teachplus.org/nm/
For information and to coordinate interviews, contact Kelly Pearce, kpearce@teachplus.org, 928-925-9236.
