Different Settings, Shared Purpose: How New Mexico Leaders Approach Accreditation

Separated by geography but united by purpose, two New Mexico school leaders—one urban principal and one rural superintendent—are leveraging the state accreditation process to elevate student achievement. As the state rolls out new accreditation standards and systems, their experiences demonstrate how compliance can be transformed into a powerful, practical driver of school improvement.

Refocusing Instructional Leadership in Albuquerque

At Eisenhower Middle School in Albuquerque, accreditation has become more than a list of to-dos. For principal Crystal Friedman, it has helped sharpen the school’s focus on two questions at the center of its work: What do students need, and what can educators do differently to help them succeed?

When Albuquerque Public Schools rolled out its response to the new state accreditation process, responsibilities were clearly divided between the district and individual school sites. That structure gave Friedman more time to focus on instruction, academics, and attendance while APS handled other tasks.

For Friedman, one of the biggest changes was how the school used the required 90-day plan to guide its work.

“I had the time to meet with a team, really dig into the data to see where our instructional focus needed to be, and then develop PD (Professional Development) sessions for my teachers, implement those sessions, and see the academic gains that we did see,” Friedman said.

Eisenhower is already a high-performing school overall, Friedman said, but that does not mean there are no areas where students and educators can grow. School leaders worked across departments to identify areas of need, look closely at student data and develop specific plans for students who were struggling.

That work also required teachers to take an honest look at their own practices.

“If you’re trying and practicing with kids and they’re not succeeding, you have to do that self-reflection and say, ‘Okay, I’ve got to do something different,’” Friedman said.

Friedman credits the school’s department chairs, grade-level chairs, instructional council and teachers for embracing that mindset. Rather than the work resting on one or two people, staff members worked together to identify where the school could improve and determine how to respond.

For Friedman, that collaborative approach is ultimately what meeting state standards for accreditation is about.

“I think, first and foremost, it’s a partnership between APS and our school site. We’re all working for the benefit of our students and their success,” she said of the district’s strategic, coordinated approach to meeting state standards. Each school’s annual Attendance Improvement Plan is also supported and evaluated for accreditation by staff at the PED Sage and Healthy School Bureau.

Strengthening Attendance Through Partnership

That same student-centered approach can look different depending on a school and its community.

At Santa Rosa Consolidated Schools, Superintendent Martin Madrid said the accreditation process provided an opportunity to fine-tune systems already in place and continue focusing on what students need to succeed.

“We’re doing all this, at the end of the day, for students,” Madrid said.

Accreditation requires schools to create focused plans to improve attendance. For Santa Rosa, that focus has included expanding opportunities that make learning feel relevant to students’ lives and futures. Madrid said more than 65 students in the district’s junior and senior classes participated in internships last year, alongside opportunities through career and technical education and dual enrollment programs.

Madrid said those hands-on experiences can change the way students understand the purpose of being in school. “They’re like, ‘Oh, this is why I have to know math. I want to make money. This is why I have to understand it,’” Madrid said. “And if I want to write a proposal, this is why I have to have language arts.”

For Madrid, those moments demonstrate the importance of being in school every day to something students can see in their own futures.

“I think that’s where it’s at with schools,” he said. “I think that’s where schools these days need to really focus: understanding that education needs to have relevance for kids in order for them to engage and want to come to school.”

The PED also played a role in supporting Eisenhower throughout the accreditation process. Friedman specifically pointed to the school’s attendance plan, noting that staff members were able to reach out to PED for guidance and receive support through the district’s liaison.

That support helped the school keep moving rather than allowing questions or adjustments to interrupt its work.

For both school leaders, one a principal of a school in the largest district, one the superintendent of a small, rural district, communication and collaboration have been important pieces of the process.

At Santa Rosa, Madrid credits his team — including the district’s director of programs, executive secretary and business manager — with keeping the district’s accreditation work moving forward.

“I think communication is the key to that,” Madrid said.

He also sees the relationship between schools and PED as an important resource for districts navigating the process.

“It’s not like, ‘I got you guys’ or ‘We’re going to work to get you guys,’” Madrid said. “No. You guys are a resource for us, tools for superintendents to reach out to.”

Collaboration for Continuous Growth

At Eisenhower, that same emphasis on collaboration has changed the conversations happening within the school’s instructional council. In the past, those meetings could focus heavily on technical issues — changing a schedule or solving an operational problem. Now, the focus is increasingly on the deeper challenges facing students and educators.

“How are we going to get our students to grow? What do we need to do differently?” Friedman said.

That shift, she said, has helped the instructional council move beyond simply managing the school and toward examining how educators can change their practice to better support students.

For Friedman, that captures the larger value of the accreditation process, not simply identifying what a school is doing well, but creating the focus and collaboration needed to keep improving.

“It’s not adding to it,” she said. “It’s highlighting what we need to do to be the best we can be.”

For Madrid, the same philosophy comes down to how schools approach the work itself. Rather than viewing accreditation requirements as another obstacle, he encourages districts to embrace the process and use the resources available to them.

He said districts should approach the work with a positive mindset, communicate with PED when they need support, and keep their attention on the reason behind the process in the first place.

“Just enter with a positive mindset and embrace the challenge that you have,” Madrid said. “At the end of the day, that’s why the Public Education Department is in the business they’re in, and that’s why we’re in the business we’re in. It’s all to help kids.”