MAS Charter School’s Samuel Webb Tapped for ‘Teach Plus’ Policy Fellowship

Samuel Webb, a third and fourth grade math teacher at Mission Achievement and Success (MAS) Charter School in Albuquerque, has been selected as one of 16 teachers from across the state to participate in the Teach Plus New Mexico Policy Fellowship. 

The yearlong program prepares classroom educators to research policy questions, speak with decision-makers and develop recommendations while continuing to teach. Webb intends to bring that classroom perspective into a larger policy discussion.

“The best part about being an educator is getting to make an impact on kids’ lives,” Webb said. “However, I have always wanted to do more than just help the kids in my classroom. I want to help everyone.”

The Statewide Context Behind the Fellowship

New Mexico’s education statistics have become familiar enough to risk losing their force. A recent Annie E. Casey Foundation scorecard ranked the state 50th in education. It reported that 80 percent of New Mexico fourth graders lacked proficiency in reading in 2024. Among eighth graders, 86 percent lacked proficiency in math. The report also found that 60 percent of children ages 3 and 4 were not enrolled in school.

The figures describe statewide conditions. They do not explain what happens inside individual schools, where educators make daily decisions about school culture, attendance, instruction, and family relationships.

Teach Plus, a national nonprofit organization with programs in 12 states including New Mexico, works with educators who want to influence the systems surrounding their classrooms. New Mexico fellows receive training in policy analysis and legislative advocacy. They also learn how to communicate classroom experience through research and public testimony.

For Webb, selection brought pride alongside a more personal reaction.

“At times, I have struggled with feelings of inadequacy,” he said. “Being chosen to join this team was extremely humbling and empowering at the same time.”

Webb grew up in Arkansas and moved frequently across the state during his childhood. He said that instability gave him an early understanding of how poverty can shape family life, and it left him with a desire to serve communities similar to the ones he knew growing up.

“It also gave me a strong desire to provide students with a sense of stability that I didn’t always have,” he said. “That’s something I carry with me every day in education.”

He later attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history.

From Daily Practice To State Policy

Webb’s selection carries particular meaning at MAS, where teacher professional development firmly occupies a scheduled place in each school day. Instructional staff members participate in professional development throughout the school year. Sessions cover school culture, curriculum, and operational needs identified across the school. Weekly grade-level conferences give teachers time to meet with families when a student faces attendance or behavioral concerns, then monitor what happens after the meeting. 

That structure reflects a belief that teachers need time to study their practice, compare what they see and respond before a student’s difficulties deepen. MAS also incorporates social-emotional learning into staff training and student support. 

The school has paired those practices with a record that stands apart in New Mexico. MAS has repeatedly received an “A” rating or “Spotlight School” designation from the New Mexico Public Education Department. The school also has a 100 percent post-graduation success rate, meaning all graduates proceed to college, trade school, or military service.

Webb’s fellowship places one of the educators working within that system into conversations about how policy reaches students and families across the state.

“Everyone at MAS takes great pride in Sam’s selection for this fellowship,” said JoAnn Mitchell, Ed.S., founder and CEO of MAS Charter School. “He understands that policy decisions eventually arrive in a classroom, a family meeting, a conversation with a student, and an interaction with a fellow staff member. Sam will bring those experiences to the work ahead, and he will listen closely to the families and educators whose lives those decisions may affect.”

Attendance Begins With Family Circumstances

New Mexico’s Teach Plus fellows will work on one of three statewide policy areas during the fellowship year. The teams will examine early childhood attendance, Career and Technical Education, or charter school facilities and transportation funding.

Webb’s team will focus on attendance and engagement among students in PreK through third grade.

“My team and I will be focusing on how we, as educators and state representatives, can best support New Mexican families to make it easier for their kids to attend school,” he said.

The assignment requires fellows to look beyond attendance totals. They will examine data and review current programs, as well as consider what keeps young children from reaching school consistently.

For New Mexico families, the reason may involve transportation, work schedules, illness, or unstable housing. A useful policy response has to account for those conditions instead of treating absence as a single problem with a single cause.

“New Mexican families are still struggling post-COVID to get their kids to school every day,” Webb said. “We want to find creative and simple solutions to help them. Kids can’t learn if they aren’t at school, and we must do more to help.”

His work at MAS gives him direct experience with a school model that treats family communication as part of the response. Teachers hold weekly conferences for students experiencing attendance or behavioral concerns. Grade-level teams then track whether conditions improve. 

That practice may inform the questions Webb asks during the fellowship: 

•    What prevents a child from attending? 
•    What support can a school provide? 
•    Which policy changes would make that support easier to deliver?

What Students Can Tell Policymakers

Webb said MAS students have shaped the position he will take into policy meetings.

“MAS students have taught me that every child deserves the best education possible, complete with all the opportunities that are available to every student in the world,” he said. “My students are my life, and I will fight every day to give them and all New Mexicans a voice so that they can be heard, understood and served.”

MAS serves a largely underserved student population in Albuquerque through a tuition-free, college-preparatory program. Its model combines extended learning time with academic support and ongoing teacher development.

Statewide statistics like those from the Annie E. Casey Foundation describe broad trends and cannot fully capture the circumstances educators encounter from one school or community to the next. Classroom educators see how a transportation problem affects one household, how an absence changes a student’s week, and how long an academic investment may take to produce results.

Webb wants policymakers to retain that longer view.

“Our New Mexican students are brilliant,” he said. “Do not give up on them.”

He pointed to the state’s recent investments in public education and the pressure to see immediate returns.“

Some might argue if it has been worth it,” Webb said. “It has. Education is a long-term game, and some investments made today won’t be fully realized for decades.”

The Teach Plus fellowship gives him a year to turn those convictions into policy work. Fellows will conduct research, meet with education leaders, and present recommendations informed by what teachers encounter each day. By the end of the fellowship, Webb seeks to better understand the concerns families bring to schools and help convert those concerns into workable proposals.

“I hope to hear and understand the struggles of families and students, discover solutions, and help our policymakers implement changes that will help everyone in New Mexico,” he said.

For Webb, the work begins with the students who will be sitting in front of him this fall and extends to those he may never meet.

“I want to do my part to push forward change and make sure all are better served in this great state.”