The Mission School of New Mexico

The Mission School of New Mexico is a values-driven school where children with unique learning and emotional differences excel academically and socially.

This school is a cause.... a passion. It is not just another academic philosophy or a unique way of teaching. We change lives. Our school is centered around our students and their parents and is committed to supporting and strengthening families.



We offer hope for families who fear that their children will never "fit in" school settings or never "make friends". Our students, who in the past literally became ill in the morning before school and often missed up to 20 days of school each year, suddenly look forward to school and see it as a place of unconditional acceptance and love. Families can leave their children knowing that they will enter and leave school happy and feeling good about themselves - an experience many of them have never had.

This one-of-a-kind school provides the most innovative techniques to support learning.

We are results oriented.

Key Points of Our Teaching Model

So many of our children join us after feeling like "square pegs" in schools that offered a wide variety of "round holes"---none of which worked for them. The children feel stupid. They don't think anyone "gets them." They find making friends almost impossible.They are resigned to "never fitting in." Needless to say, these children have battered self-images and dread school.

What we clearly tell them and their families is that the problem is not that they are not capable of learning or making friends. The problem is that their former learning environments were either unable or unwilling to recognize and meet their unique ways of learning and relating to others.

The Mission School of New Mexico was created and is committed to teaching diverse learners with specific research-based strategies that best allow them to learn and retain information. Equal in importance to our school's commitment to promoting each student's academic achievement, we nurture the development of social skills and each child's sense of worth and well-being. Our school is a family of learners who respect each other's strengths and challenges. We support and care for each other just as we would want to be treated. The result is a group of energetic and enthusiastic students and faculty who look forward to lifelong learning and compassionate missions of service to others and their communities.

Our Approach to Assessments of Learning Styles

Neurocognitive development can be mapped with each part given a name. Using this framework, we can try to provide an "operating manual" with diagrams of the areas that need to be bolstered and teaching strategies specific to each problem area.

Commitment to Research-Based Educational Practices

In 2001, Congress passed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act that placed tremendous emphasis on the importance of scientifically-based research in the development of educational programs and initiatives. The NCLB Act defines scientifically-based research as "research that involves the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to education activities and programs." The Mission School of New Mexico has a long-term commitment to evidence-based education and data-driven decision-making related to our approach to each child's unique learning and social needs.

The research-based models for our school include:

• The "All Kinds of Minds" Program" developed for the understanding of differences in learning ( Dr. Mel Levine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  
  
• The "Collaborative Problem-Solving" Approach for understanding and dealing with behavioral and learning challenges (Dr. Ross Greene at the Harvard Medical School and the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital)