National Principal Academy Fellowship Begins for Three MAS School Leaders

Every business and organization, whether a locally owned restaurant or a public charter school, has a culture. The strongest cultures are shaped through disciplined work that customers, or in our case students, may never even see. These include coaching conversations, planning meetings, leadership actions, and daily expectations that shape what teachers and students experience together and why.

While some school cultures seem to develop by accident, truly great school cultures are built by design. They are reinforced through professional development that takes place on campus and beyond, anchored in the organization’s core values, protected by the fundamentals on which they refuse to compromise and built through deliberate leadership action.

They then grow stronger through the camaraderie and support that develop when like-minded school leaders, instructional coaches, educators, and operations staff all pull together around the same purpose: helping students succeed, no matter what.

This week, three Mission Achievement and Success Charter School leaders are in New Orleans, Louisiana, participating in the in-person Summer Intensive for Relay Graduate School of Education’s National Principal Academy Fellowship, a yearlong leadership development program designed to help school leaders strengthen instruction, develop teachers, build stronger school culture, and improve student outcomes.

The three MAS team members are Shanique Walker, Ed.M., middle school principal for grades 5-8 at the Yale Campus; Sharon Ali, instructional coach for test prep; and Ceema Guyadeen, M.Sc., instructional coach for English language arts.

Their participation reflects a larger commitment at MAS: Student achievement depends on many things including great instructional leadership. That means school leaders and instructional coaches who know how to support teachers, interpret data, support and advance cultural norms, identify barriers, and keep students at the center of every decision.

For MAS’ latest group of team members participating in a Relay Graduate School program, the fellowship represents an investment in the leadership practices that shape what students experience every day: rigorous instruction, precise coaching, clear systems, and a culture built around student success.

A Year-Long Fellowship Focused on Instructional Leadership

The National Principal Academy Fellowship is an intensive, year-long leadership development experience for principals and other instructional leaders, including assistant principals and instructional coaches. The program combines professional learning, individualized coaching, implementation support, and connection to a national network of peer leaders. 

Participants engage in hands-on learning through coaching labs, peer learning teams, and job-embedded assessments tied to leadership work inside schools like ours.

The fellowship is grounded in the Leverage Leadership framework developed by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, M.Ed. This nationally recognized model helps school leaders focus on the highest-impact actions that drive student achievement, teacher development, and thoughtful school culture. Through practical tools and coaching, fellows learn how to use data, strengthen instruction, support staff, and build systems that lead to lasting school improvement and improved student outcomes.

For the June cohort, the fellowship began with virtual sessions in mid-June. The in-person Summer Intensive takes place this week in New Orleans. Additional intersessions will continue throughout the school year, with gatherings scheduled for October 2026 in New Orleans, virtually in January ‘27, and May of ‘27 in College Park, Maryland.

Unlike a one-week conference, the fellowship experience for Walker, Ali, and Guyadeen is a sustained leadership experience that follows them back to Albuquerque, where the work becomes practical and very much connected to our students.

Understanding the Leverage Leadership Framework

Bambrick-Santoyo’s Leverage Leadership framework is designed to help school leaders focus their time on actions that make the greatest difference for students, teachers, and school culture. The framework organizes the work around what it calls seven high-impact levers. They include: 

1. Data-driven instruction
2. Instructional planning
3. Observation and feedback
4. Professional development
5. Student culture
6. Staff culture
7. Managing the leadership team

Together, these levers give school leaders a practical roadmap for strengthening instruction and building a positive, well-run school environment. The framework also uses a simple improvement cycle called “See It, Name It, Do It.”

Leaders first identify durable practices, then define the specific actions that make those practices effective, and finally practice and implement those actions until they become consistent habits across the school.

“My greatest takeaway from Paul’s sessions is that exceptional leadership is built through intentional systems that improve teaching every day,” said Walker. “Weekly data meetings should move beyond analyzing scores to identifying the highest-leverage misconception, developing a targeted reteach plan, and account for immediate instructional action.”

Ms. Walker added that professional development practice clinics should focus on deliberate practice, where teachers rehearse high-impact instructional strategies and receive immediate feedback.

"The part of his framework that resonated most with me was ‘See It, Name It, Do It,’” Walker said. “Effective coaching begins by helping teachers see what success and excellence look like through a strong model or exemplar, naming the specific move that will have the greatest impact, and providing opportunities to practice that skill until it becomes automatic. This reinforced that my role as a school leader is not simply to observe instruction, but to build systems of coaching, feedback, and practice that lead to consistent, high-quality teaching and improved student outcomes.”

Why the Leverage Leadership Framework Matters at MAS Charter School

MAS has long held that academic excellence is built through intentional design. Rigorous instruction matters. So does school culture, the quality of support that teachers receive, and whether students feel known, challenged, and believed in.
Walker said the fellowship connects directly to that belief.

“As a school leader, I recognize that great schools are built on more than academics,” Walker said. “They are built on culture, relationships, trust, and a shared commitment to student success.”

The fellowship’s learning areas align closely with MAS’ work across classrooms and campuses. Participants focus on centering students, increasing opportunity, strengthening instructional rigor, coaching teachers, using data to respond to student needs, and developing plans that drive meaningful improvement.

Each of those areas carries direct importance at MAS:

• Centering the student means looking carefully at what students need and removing barriers that stand in the way of learning. 
• Instructional rigor means helping teachers plan and teach lessons that meet grade-level expectations while responding to real student needs. 
• Coaching means developing teacher practice with clarity and care. 
• Data-informed instruction means studying student progress and adjusting instruction before students fall behind. 
• Thoughtful planning means identifying the highest-leverage actions that can move a school community forward.

This is the daily work of a school where students are prepared for college, careers, the military, trades, family life, and community leadership.

Culture, Belonging, and High Expectations

Walker said one of the most meaningful parts of the fellowship is its attention to school culture and relationships with students.

"This yearlong fellowship provides my colleagues and I an opportunity to learn from educational leaders across the country, reflect on our own practices, and strengthen our ability to lead in a way where every student feels seen, valued, and supported,” Walker said.

That language reflects a core MAS belief: Students learn best when they are part of a school community that combines high expectations with deep support.

“One of the most meaningful aspects of this fellowship is its focus on building positive school culture and developing authentic relationships with students,” Walker said. “At MAS, we know that students learn best when they feel connected to the adults who serve them and when they are part of a community that believes in their potential.”

For MAS students, culture is connected to academics. That’s because a great school culture helps students take risks, ask questions, recover from mistakes, and stay committed when the work becomes difficult. It helps teachers create classrooms where expectations are clear, relationships are supported, and learning time is protected.

That is why leadership development matters. A school leader like Ms. Walker or instructional coaches like Ms. Ali and Ms. Guyadeen help shape the conditions in which teachers teach and students grow.

Bringing the Learning Back to Albuquerque

Relay Graduate School of Education’s mission is to “ensure that all students are taught by outstanding educators.” Accredited by both the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, its work focuses on preparing teachers and school leaders through programs rooted in pedagogical theory, evidence-based practice, and the realities of today’s schools and classrooms.

For MAS, that mission connects with its own commitment to deliver a rigorous college-preparatory education in a supportive learning environment. Through the fellowship, Walker, Ali, and Guyadeen are learning alongside school leaders from across the country while also preparing to apply what they learn to their own responsibilities at MAS.

“Through this experience, we are gaining practical strategies to strengthen instructional leadership, support teacher growth, improve systems, and create learning environments where both students and staff can thrive,” Walker said.

MAS students benefit when teachers grow, which is Ms. Walker's last point cannot be understated. Teachers benefit when instructional coaches and school leaders lead with skill. Campuses grow stronger when leadership teams share common language, common expectations, and common tools for improvement.

The National Principal Academy Fellowship give the MAS team an opportunity to study and practice those tools and then bring them back to our school community with focus.

An Adult Team Highly Focused on Improved Student Outcomes

At MAS, leadership development is ultimately student work. Every coaching conversation, every review of student data, every school culture decision, and every instructional planning meeting connects back to the same question: What do students need in order to succeed?

The National Principal Academy Fellowship gives MAS leaders another way to answer that question with focus and action.
Walker said the team is eager to return with lessons that will support the school’s continued growth.

“We look forward to bringing these lessons back to our school community as we continue our work of building a culture of excellence, belonging, and high expectations for every student we serve,” Walker said.

For MAS families, the message is clear: The award-winning school isn’t resting on its laurels. It’s continuing to invest in the adults who guide, teach, coach, and support students every day. Because excellent schools operate with a culture that’s built by design. And at MAS, that work is always ongoing.