Professional Development Schools (PDS)
Professional Development Schools are direct partnerships between New Mexico Highlands University’s (NMHU) School of Education (SOE) and local school districts. The PDS model allows for schools to gain professional development for all teachers and school administrators from NMHU as well as have opportunities to have our education students placed within their schools.
All schools that choose to participate in the PDS model also participate in a 4-day Problems of Practice Summer Summit and regular mini summits throughout the year. The Summer Summit allows schools to tease out a problem of practice they may be having within their school or district and with NMHU staff and other invited experts to find workable solutions to those problems. The mini summits provide important follow up on the problems of practice identified by the schools and are used to collaboratively identify new topics and areas of concern for future summits.
We currently have a range of PDS schools that we are working with. These include:
- Albuquerque Sign Language Academy
- West Las Vegas School District
- East Las Vegas School District
- Zuni Public Schools District
Regional Partnership School (RPS)
Regional Partnership schools are direct partnerships with NMHU, local school districts and can include outside partners. The purpose of the PRS is to engage deeply in important issues effecting the schools. Similar to the PDS model, a key focus of the RPS is to provide targeted professional development for the schools, their administrators, faculty and staff. Partners collaboratively engage with each other to identify areas for improvement and then find and direct resources targeting those needs. The RPS framework also focuses on creating opportunities for NMHU students to engage in year-long residencies for their clinical experience.
Our current RPS project is a collaboration between the Pojoaque Valley School District, the Los Alamos National Labs, and NMHU’s School of Education.
Network of Schools for Clinical Experience
The School of Education has a wide network of schools for placing our student teachers when completing their clinical teaching experiences. Each of the schools and districts in he list have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with New Mexico Highlands University’s School of Education for the purpose of creating effective and efficient placement of our students. These placements are organized through the Office of Clinical Studies, which places our students in schools for their classroom-based student teaching and apprenticeships required for graduating and licensure.
The framework outlined in our MOUs facilitate:
- The streamlining of communication between the schools and NMHU faculty and staff
- The creation of positive, supportive conditions for our students while gaining their clinical experiences
- The availability of a wide range of options and localities for students to learn in
- The provision of support and guidance to the schools when taking on board student teachers and interns
NMHU has a diverse range of participating schools in our network for placing students covering many parts of the state. Below is a list of participating schools in our placement network.
- Farmington Municipal Schools
- Bloomfield School District
- Aztec Municipal School District
- Chama Valley Independent Schools
- Springer Municipal Schools
- Central Consolidated Schools
- Los Alamos Public Schools
- Taos Municipal Schools
- Mora Independent Schools
- Las Vegas City Schools
- West Las Vegas Schools
- Santa Fe Public Schools
- Ohkay Owingeh Community School
- Pojoaque Valley School District
- Espanola Municipal Schools
- Santa Rosa Consolidated Schools
- Albuquerque Public Schools
- Rio Rancho Public Schools
- Los Lunas Public Schools
- Bernalillo Public Schools
- Mountainair Public Schools
- Estancia Municipal School District
- Ruidoso Municipal Schools
- Las Cruces Public Schools
- Carlsbad Municipal Schools