Just one year after setting an ambitious goal, the David & Martha Cooper Family Enrichment Center at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque has earned New Mexico’s highest distinction for early childhood education: a Five-Star designation.

Awarded through the State of New Mexico’s FOCUS Tiered Quality Rating and Improvement System, the designation recognizes programs that demonstrate the highest standards in teacher qualifications, classroom quality, child development, family engagement, health and safety, and continuous improvement. It is the highest rating an early childhood program can receive and must be renewed annually through ongoing evaluation and inspection.

For the Family Enrichment Center Director Anne Duran, the journey began with a simple question.

“When I was hired at the JCC, I remember asking why they were not a Five-Star.”

At her very first staff meeting, she shared her vision. “I gave each of them a star lollipop and said, ‘Guys, we have to do this. It’s what’s best. We just have to do it.'”

She set a personal goal of earning the designation before her one-year anniversary.

She did it.

“I got notice of it just before my one-year anniversary,” Anne says. “I let the CEO and the Board know that was my goal, and we got it done.”

The accomplishment represents far more than a successful application.

Earning Five-Star status required a year of planning, documentation, collaboration, and continuous improvement across every aspect of the school. Staff qualifications, classroom environments, developmental observations, family engagement, health screenings, parent-teacher conferences, lesson planning, and continuous quality improvement all become part of a rigorous review process that evaluates not only the quality of a program, but its ability to sustain that quality year after year.

“It is very difficult to attain,” Anne explains. “There are educational requirements that all the staff have to meet.”

The standards extend even further. Every classroom establishes measurable improvement goals throughout the year and documents progress toward those goals. Parent and teacher surveys help shape future improvements. Teachers complete training beyond minimum state requirements, and children receive ongoing developmental observations along with health, hearing, vision, and other screenings designed to identify needs as early as possible.

“It is a ton of work,” Anne says. “It really is. But it is also doing what is best for children.” That philosophy sits at the heart of the program.

“The first five years of a child’s life are when most of the brain development happens,” Anne says. “You want someone who’s leading your child and teaching your child to have the education, experience, and training to make sure your child’s brain develops the best that it can.”

For parents, the difference between a quality early childhood program and exceptional early childhood education often comes down to something they may never notice: purpose.

Asked what children experience differently in a Five-Star classroom, Anne doesn’t hesitate:

“Children learn best through play. So when a child comes into our classrooms, they look fun and inviting to them. But there’s a purpose behind everything that we do… It looks like just play, but everything we’re doing has purpose behind it.”

Every lesson is intentionally designed to support children’s cognitive, emotional, physical, and social development. Teachers continuously observe each child’s progress, identify areas where additional support may be needed, and ensure children are developing the skills they’ll need for kindergarten and beyond.

The Five-Star designation also recognizes the people who make that environment possible.

Early childhood education experiences some of the highest turnover rates of any profession, yet many of the Family Enrichment Center’s teachers have served children and families for years, creating the consistency and trust our parents value.

“Our staff really loves and cares about the children and really wants to do what’s best for the kids we have,” Anne says. “Parents have told me they really feel like a lot of them become part of the family.”

“It isn’t just an eight-to-five job,” she adds. “I really feel like it’s a calling.”

Anne is quick to credit her team for embracing the challenge of pursuing Five-Star status despite the additional work it required. “I really appreciate the staff trusting me and understanding the vision I had for us being Five-Star.”

The recognition is especially meaningful because it wasn’t pursued to fill classrooms.

Before earning the designation, the Family Enrichment Center already maintained a long waiting list. The decision to pursue Five-Star status was rooted in one belief: every child deserves the highest quality early childhood education possible.

The designation comes at a time of continued growth for the Family Enrichment Center.

Recent facility improvements are expanding capacity with a new classroom serving children under two years old, one of New Mexico’s greatest childcare needs. New opportunities this year include piano instruction for Pre-K students, an in-house cook preparing more nutritious meals, and continued investments that enrich children’s learning through music, creativity, movement, and exploration.

For the Cooper family, whose generosity helped establish the Family Enrichment Center, the recognition reflects a vision that began long before Five-Star status became a goal.

Roberta Ramo, daughter of David and Martha Cooper, shared:

“David and Martha Cooper cared deeply not only for their children, but for all children. They wanted to make sure that as a part of what the Jewish Community Center of Albuquerque gave to the greater community was a place that offered world-class child care and early childhood and parent education, with love and a chance to understand the Jewish culture. They would especially appreciate how those families who are not Jewish can access such great programs and come to know the Jewish Community. Our whole family is proud to have their names on the Family Enrichment Center.”

Although earning Five-Star status represents a major milestone, Anne already has her eyes on what’s next. She hopes to continue expanding opportunities in the arts, science, music, and hands-on learning, always with the same purpose that guided the school’s pursuit of Five-Star recognition.

“I want children to love learning,” she says. “I want us to create a foundation of always asking why and looking for opportunities to learn about new things. Because their brains are developing now, if we give them that love of learning now, that’s something they can carry with them throughout their entire life.”

For Anne, that’s what Five Stars has always been about.

“I’ve always felt that no child should ever not go to a Five-Star school,” she says, “because that means we’re doing what’s absolutely best for the kids that we serve.”