New Mexico High School Transformation Coalition

The High School Transformation Coalition brings together representatives from the New Mexico Public Education Department, Higher Education Department, Department of Workforce Solutions, tribal education departments, and workforce systems to achieve its purpose through program coordination, troubleshooting, data collection, and communications.

Are you interested in helping transform high schools to better engage and prepare young people to contribute positively to our communities?  If so, the New Mexico Public Education Department invites you to submit an application to join the New Mexico High School Transformation Coalition.

The purpose of the High School Transformation Coalition is to support, through implementation and technical assistance, the holistic transformation of high schools to become engaging places that prepare students to feel successful, secure in who they are, and ready for whatever path they choose. Ultimately, our aim is for this work to  increase the health and prosperity of young people and their communities. 

The High School Transformation Coalition brings together representatives from the New Mexico Public Education Department, Higher Education Department, Department of Workforce Solutions, tribal education departments, and workforce systems to achieve its purpose through program coordination, troubleshooting, data collection, and communications. This Coalition is a tactically-focused, solution-oriented group, identifying systemic barriers, then developing tools and resources and mobilizing the key people across systems and organizations to enact needed change. 

Year-One Outcomes (by June 30, 2023):

Focus on Learning

• Members of the High School Transformation Coalition establish meeting norms and identify shared values that will underpin their work together.
• Members understand the Innovation Zone initiative, from which the Coalition was created, as well as the purpose, mission, and outcomes of the Coalition.
• Members build trusting relationships with each other and, through these relationships, broaden and deepen their understanding of the diverse cultures, languages, and histories that are woven into the fabric of New Mexico.
• Members gain a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing Martinez/Yazzie student groups (Native American students, students with disabilities, English learners, and economically disadvantaged students), as well as other marginalized student populations in New Mexico.
• Members get to know members of the College and Career Pathways Alliance and understand how the two groups are distinct, yet mutually supportive.
• Members are grounded in state and national research that relates to the Coalition’s purpose and how these approaches can improve outcomes for New Mexico’s diverse student populations. 
• Members gain a deeper understanding about best and promising practices for high school transformation and innovation to advance college and career pathways that have the potential to be scaled statewide, as well as barriers that prevent such practices from being realized or fully implemented in New Mexico.

Potential Year-Two Outcomes (July 1, 2023-June 30, 2024):

Focus on Planning and Action

• The High School Transformation Coalition develops a 2-3 year coordination plan, which includes a vision, goals, and prioritized strategies for high school transformation and innovation to advance  college and career pathways in New Mexico.
• The Coalition develops a 1-year work plan, aligned to the strategic plan, that defines key milestones, short-term objectives, and actions that it will achieve prior to June 30, 2024.
• The Coalition develops an executive report detailing systemic barriers to student participation in college and career pathways programs, priorities for action during the 2023-24 school year, and initial recommendations concerning school recruitment strategies, the refinement or creation of best-practices guides and standards, and alignment of dual credit courses between college campuses and high schools.
• The Coalition engages with “end users” (students, families, employers, and others) to gather feedback and co-create solutions that address barriers identified in the executive report.
• The Coalition develops recommendations to address the priorities for action previously identified.
• The Coalition oversees implementation of the recommendations and provides support to break down barriers, as needed. 
• The Coalition identifies systemic barriers that can only be removed through legislative or administrative action and communicates these barriers to the College and Career Pathways Alliance for further action. 

Membership Expectations:

If selected to serve, your term of service will run from April 2023 through June 2024, with an opportunity to renew for another one-year term at that time. From April through June 2023, you will participate in a virtual one-hour introductory meeting, a day-long site visit to an innovative high school in New Mexico, and two in-person half-day meetings. You will also have an opportunity at that time to weigh in on the meeting schedule for fiscal year 2023-24 as you and your colleagues build next year’s work plan.

Member Qualifications, Skills, and Experience:

The Coalition will include up to 25 members, representing key stakeholders and all regions of the state. 

All members of the Coalition should possess:

• Recent and relevant experience working in or at the intersection of K-8 education, secondary education, post-secondary education, and/or workforce.
• A demonstrated record of breaking down barriers that prevent students from accessing needed supports and services or pursuing their educational aspirations.
• A foundational understanding of current challenges and opportunities related to expanding and improving college and career pathways.
• A solution-oriented mindset, creativity, innovative thinking, and a willingness to pursue needed change, despite current constraints or entrenched opposition.
• A strengths-based mindset concerning New Mexico’s young people and a willingness to center youth voice in the work of the Coalition.

Additional experience might include:

• Operational or programmatic experience and/or skills working in and successfully navigating New Mexico’s bureaucratic structures and agencies to bring about needed change.
• Operational or programmatic experience and/or skills working to support student transitions (i.e., from secondary to postsecondary, from secondary to workforce, or from postsecondary to workforce).
• Operational or programmatic experience and/or skills in tribal education.
• Programmatic experience in:
  • school counseling
  • transition services for students with individual educational plans
  • college and career pathway programs, including career technical education and work-based learning
  • dual credit education
  • workforce development
  • culturally sustaining education
  • dual language and Native language programs