About SFIS

Director of Continuous School Improvement

Nina Smith is the Continuous School Improvement Director (formerly titled Planning and Evaluation) at Santa Fe Indian School.

After growing up in Connecticut and living in Sydney, Australia and East Tennessee, Nina worked as a data analyst in the non-profit sector in Washington, D.C. before entering the education field seventeen years ago as a special education teacher in Gallup, New Mexico. Since then, she has worked in schools that serve Native American students throughout the state in a variety of teaching, leadership, and administrative capacities. During her eleven years at the Santa Fe Indian School, Nina has worked as a special education teacher, academic data specialist, instructional coordinator, and district test coordinator. She is currently SFIS’ Continuous School Improvement Director and is responsible for overseeing federal programs and facilitating the ongoing development and implementation of a comprehensive, data-driven, school-wide, continuous improvement process and accountability system focused on realizing the mission and vision of SFIS.

 When she started as the Continuous School Improvement Director, Nina shared her feelings about the responsibility that comes with this position: “I am very excited for the opportunity to contribute what I can to achieving what the Pueblo communities want for their students and their school. I am grateful for the chance to share this place with so many wonderful people and for being able to enhance my contribution to the continued success of SFIS because I believe that its commitment to student learning and continuous improvement is second to none. I also know that my commitment to continually improve our preparation of Ideal Graduates and our work as the leader in Native American education is the product of my own education at SFIS. Since arriving here ten years ago, the SFIS family has helped me come into my own as a professional educator and has taught me the meaning of commitment by giving themselves wholeheartedly to what we do together as a school.”

 In addition to graduating from Georgetown University with a degree in Psychology, Nina has a MAT in Special Education from Western New Mexico University and a MA in Educational Leadership from the University of New Mexico. She holds both a Level 3A Pre K-12 Special Education New Mexico Teaching License and a Level 3B Pre K-12 New Mexico Administrative License.