Reconnecting Students to School, One Pathway at a Time

Across New Mexico, schools are working to ensure students stay connected to learning and graduate prepared for whatever comes next. Through various partnerships, the New Mexico Public Education Department is investing in strategies designed to improve attendance, re-engage students who have fallen behind, and provide individualized support that helps them reach the finish line.

For many students, getting back on track begins with understanding why they became disconnected from school in the first place. Work, family responsibilities, academic struggles and other challenges can make it difficult for students to consistently attend school or keep up with traditional learning pathways.

Those supports take many forms, including tutoring, credit recovery, mentorship and work-based learning opportunities designed to meet students where they already are. One example of that work is the Graduation Re-engagement Internship Program (GRIP), an attendance and re-engagement initiative designed to help students reconnect with school and make progress toward graduation.

Through paid internships, individualized coaching, and more flexible pathways to credit recovery, GRIP gives students opportunities to re-engage with learning in ways that connect to their interests, responsibilities, and goals.

At Highland High School in Albuquerque, Student Success and GRIP Coordinator Renato Estacio says the program addresses the reality many students face daily.

“Highland High School is a very unique population,” Estacio said. “A lot of our students have to work. They have to take care of siblings. They’re balancing responsibilities outside of school, and sometimes that creates the perfect storm where they start falling behind.”

Estacio said many students disengage not because they lack ability, but because they are overwhelmed trying to balance school with the realities of life outside the classroom.

“In today’s world, students are balancing so much more,” he said. “It becomes easy for students to focus on the parts of their life where they’re already successful, whether that’s work or helping support their family. Then suddenly it’s senior year, and they’re exhausted from trying to balance everything.”

For GRIP, re-engagement starts with meeting students where they are and creating a pathway back into learning. Rather than relying solely on traditional credit recovery, schools can use internships, mentorship and project-based experiences to give students a reason to reconnect while still completing the academic requirements needed for graduation.

At Highland High School, Estacio worked closely with counselors to identify students who were just a few credits short of graduating who could benefit from a more personalized approach.

Students in the program participate in paid internships, mentorship opportunities and project-based learning experiences while also completing the academic requirements needed for graduation.

For recent Highland High School graduate Logan Mitchell, the program provided not only academic support, but someone willing to help him believe in himself again.

Before joining, Mitchell said he was struggling to balance work, school and the pressure of everyday life.

“I was kind of wondering how I was going to pass my last semester,” Mitchell said. “I had a lot going on, and I wasn’t really going to school as much.”

Mitchell said the support and mentorship he received through the program helped him regain confidence and motivation.

“What really helped was having somebody there who actually cared about me,” he said. “Renato was there helping us, showing us what we needed to do. Once I understood what I needed to do, I got it done.”

Unlike more traditional intervention models, Mitchell said he felt connected to real life and future opportunities.

“Before, I wasn’t thinking about college. I mostly just wanted to work. But the program showed me I am capable of more,” he said.

That connection between student interests and learning is also central to the work happening at Belen High School.

Counselor RaeCee Vallejos said traditional credit recovery systems can sometimes leave students disengaged and disconnected from the learning process.

“The go-to is usually an online platform where students are staring at a screen trying to recover credits they aren’t excited about,” Vallejos said.

When Belen High School first learned about the opportunity, Vallejos said what immediately stood out was the program’s flexibility and intentionality.

“We realized we could identify students’ passions and then use those passions to help them get across the graduation finish line,” she said. “That’s what hooked us.”

At Belen High School, counselors identified students not only based on academic need but also based on which students would benefit most from individualized support and alternative learning pathways.

Students were connected with internship opportunities tailored to their interests, ranging from cosmetology and education to athletics, maintenance, and community advocacy work. Counselors then built project-based assignments and milestone activities around those experiences to align with academic standards.

Vallejos spoke of one student recovering science and elective credits who created a large-scale Earth Day project focused on pollution awareness after discovering an interest in advocacy and marketing through the program.

“She organized a community event, met with the mayor, and coordinated with city leadership,” Vallejos described. “That kind of interactive learning changes everything.”

For students who have become disconnected from school, that kind of flexibility can make the difference between continuing to fall behind and finding a reason to re-engage.

Vallejos said the flexibility built into the program allowed schools to individualize support for students in ways many traditional programs cannot.

“A lot of programs are extremely rigid,” she said. “GRIP had structure, but it also allowed us to individualize it for our students and our community.”

She also credited the strong partnership between PED and Future Focused Education as a key reason for the program’s success.

“The support behind the program made all the difference,” Vallejos said. “The communication was strong, expectations were clear, and they trusted schools to make the program meaningful for their students.”

Perhaps most importantly, Vallejos said the program created something many struggling students desperately needed: a sense of belonging and belief in themselves.

“One of the biggest takeaways for our students was the sense of togetherness they built through the program,” she said. “Many of them formed meaningful friendships and support systems.”

Vallejos said the impact of the program became undeniable by the end of the school year.

“I can say with complete confidence that I had 20 students at Belen High School who likely would not have graduated through traditional recovery systems,” she said. “Every one of those students crossed the finish line because of GRIP.”

For PED, efforts like GRIP reflect a broader approach to improving student outcomes: attendance is not simply about whether a student is physically present in school, but about whether they are connected to the learning, relationships and opportunities that keep them moving forward.

By helping schools understand why students disengage and giving them flexibility to build individualized pathways back into learning, GRIP provides another tool for re-engaging students who may otherwise continue falling behind.

As New Mexico works toward reaching the national average for graduation rates, PED continues partnering with schools and community organizations to ensure students have access to the support they need to succeed. Programs like GRIP demonstrate how innovative, relationship-based approaches can strengthen broader statewide efforts to improve attendance, re-engage students and help more young people cross the graduation stage on time.

“Through investments by the New Mexico Public Education Department, we are helping students across the state reconnect with schools, rediscover confidence, and reimagine what their futures can look like, one graduation at a time,” said PED Secretary Mariana D. Padilla.