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• All educators are required to continue their professional development and to keep accurate records of these activities. Such documentation is part of the individual's personnel file. Incentives to continue one's academic achievements and to encourage length of service are built into the salary scales for licensed personnel.
• Because teachers are considered to be catechists and religion is integrated throughout the curricula, all faculty are required to earn basic-level certification in the Formation for Christian Service program by the conclusion of the fourth year of employment. Certification requires completing four 10-hour courses in spirituality/theology and 10 hours of basic-level skills workshops. The Religious Education Office tracks compliance with this requirement.
• New educators in our system are required to attend an in-service conducted by the superintendent of schools, at which they are introduced to the Catholic School System, archdiocesan policies are reviewed, and training is given in Bloodborne Pathogens as required by OSHA. 
• The Catholic Schools Office sponsors at least one spiritual and one professional retreat each school year for all faculty, which is required attendance, and the schools sponsor their own faculty retreats and in-services during the school year. 
• Educators also have the opportunity to attend other functions that offer ongoing professional development, including sessions sponsored by the New Mexico Association of Non-public Schools, Academy for Educational Leadership, and the Ministry Congress.
• On July 1, 2002, New Mexico Statute Title 6, Chapter 60, Part 10: "Mentorship Programs for Beginning Teachers became law."  The objective of the statute is to “establish the requirement for statewide mentorship programs to provide beginning teachers an effective transition into the teaching profession, retain capable teachers, improve the achievement of students, and improve the overall success of the school.”  In order to be in compliance, all districts must submit a mentoring plan for State Department of Education approval.  The Archdiocesan Catholic Schools Office has trained mentors for each school.  Click here to access the form that lists sessions that Level I teachers must attend in order to obtain their Level II license.  This is typically a three-year process.     

Professional Accountability

Faculty. The faculty undergo a minimum of one written evaluation each year by administration, which includes observations in the performance of duties. Each new teacher is to have a mentor during the first three years at the school; a mentor is defined as an individual who has had at least 5 years of successful experience within the same grade and subject area as the new teacher. Based on the T.E.A.M. process, each educator conducts a self-assessment annually and formulates spiritual, professional, and personal goals. An evaluation team evaluates the individual's performance in terms of these stated goals. This process meets the standards of the New Mexico State Board of Education Regulation No. 93-21 for the Professional Development Plan and peer-group evaluation.

Schools. All of the schools in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe have successfully completed accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Accreditation provides the catalyst by which a school can investigate its current programs, restructure to improve these programs, and set goals by which progress can be measured. Since the accreditation process is ongoing, it ensures that a school is: (a) self-renewing in that it must continually plan for its future and demonstrate the capacity to control its own quality, and (b) self-correcting in that it must identify problems and establish plans to address them.

As part of the accreditation process, each school must write a self-study through which it examines itself based on a set of criteria that assess the school improvement process, the qualifications of the faculty, the nature of the curriculum, resource allocation, and other important factors that impact student learning. The school then undergoes a site visit by a team of evaluators. Based on the recommendations of the site team, the school must write a Student Improvement Plan that outlines its major goals and specific plans to achieve these goals.

Catholic Schools Office and Catholic School Support Staff. The Catholic Center in Albuquerque is the headquarters for all of the archdiocesan ministries available to support the Catholic schools, including the Catholic Schools Office; employees are evaluated after the first three months of employment, then annually in November. The superintendent is evaluated by the executive director of Pastoral Ministries; the Catholic Schools Office staff are evaluated by the superintendent. 

Note to  teachers, librarians, and administrators:  You are invited to peruse and use our list of professional books housed at the Catholic Schools Office at the Catholic Center, 4000 St. Joseph Place NW, Albuquerque.  Many titles are quite recent and relevant, and the list is annotated so that the flavor of each book is hopefully communicated.  Please call the Catholic Schools Office at 831-8173 or stop by if you would like to browse or sign out a specific book from the list.  We would be happy to arrange a courier if that would be more convenient.  We are open during the summer at our regular hours, 8:30 - 12 noon and 1:00 to 4:30. 

The professional conduct of every educator affects attitudes about the teaching profession and Catholic education.  The Catholic school educator makes the well-being of students the foundation of all decisions and actions, performs teaching responsibilities with diligence and integrity, and believes the Catholic school community is both an agent of appropriate change and a preserver of basic tradition. 

— Code of Ethics for Catholic School Educators
National Catholic Education Association

See also:  Catholic Schools Office, Personnel, Policies, Licensure

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