Tacoma students deserve more than the status quo in teaching

I’ve been teaching in Tacoma Public Schools for 30 years. When I was asked to help draft the Vibrant Schools Tacoma Coalition Platform, I saw it as an opportunity to make sure that it was drafted with a positive approach for teachers in hopes that it would become a document that would respect the teaching craft.

Vibrant Schools Tacoma Coalition’s short-term goal is to focus on those areas of the Tacoma Public Schools/Tacoma Education Association’s collective bargaining agreement that can lead to increasing student achievement and closing the achievement gap. The platform that Vibrant Schools Tacoma has laid out offers a positive approach and is supported by the great majority of Tacoma residents (vibrantschoolstacoma.org).

While many are quick to say what’s wrong with education, I would suggest that maybe the reason is because we continue “the status quo.” As an educator I’ve always been proud of the many ways our district has been on the cutting edge.

With the founding of the Vibrant Schools Tacoma Coalition and the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement for teachers, we now have another chance to go beyond the status quo and make a real difference for students.

I believe that everyone would agree the most important factor in student achievement is effective teaching. I believe the best way to reach that goal is by expanding the teacher evaluation process.

Couldn’t we develop an evaluation system that provides a clear path for teachers to hone their effectiveness? With a robust evaluation system, we will be able to ensure the best teachers are in the classroom.

I also think the evaluation needs to be a significant factor in staffing decisions. Just like any successful business puts its talent where it best fits its needs, so should we as educators. If we continue to allow seniority to rule without any consideration as to how well one teaches, we are saying it is OK to allow ineffective teachers to remain in our classrooms. This is not what we want for Tacoma.

We should have an evaluation tool that highlights an educator’s skills and also facilitates placement at a school that aligns with the teacher’s talents. Never should teachers be assigned to a school because of a bureaucratic rule or because no other school wants them.

Good teachers expect support. I have spent a decade at McCarver Elementary School, seeing staff come and go. If the evaluation system was overhauled, McCarver would be a different school. We would have the most experienced teachers teaching the students who need it most, and those teachers would be appropriately compensated.

No longer would McCarver be a big revolving door where once you attained some years toward your seniority, you left to greener pastures. You would find experienced staff trained in accelerating learning. You wouldn’t find teachers teaching their whole career at the same grade level. You would find staff that knew more about working with kids in poverty than anywhere else.

You would offer appropriate, targeted professional development to help teachers hone their craft. You would not see forced teacher placements but staff placed because they are the best for this “high needs” school.

Can you begin to picture Tacoma becoming a school district that chose and supported the best placements for their teachers rather than ones that placed staff depending upon mandatory rules without students’ best interests in mind? Tacoma could be a school district where every classroom is led by an effective teacher.

Or, conversely, we could choose to stay with the status quo and continue to allow seniority to dictate staffing decisions, rather than the actions, words or skill of the teachers.

I know which Tacoma I would choose to work in. Which Tacoma do you want?

Lori Goodrich is a teacher in Tacoma Public Schools and member of Stand for Children’s Tacoma chapter.