I asked readers to tell me about good school districts that manage to offer a good education despite the testing mania. This reader in Tacoma explains what is happening there.
I am adding Tacoma, Washington, to the honor roll because it is an exemplar of good public education:
In Tacoma Public Schools, some schools do better than others, but overall I think we’ve done as best we can to follow the laws while also ensuring that the students are well-served. We are innovative. We have a high school extended day program modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone program. We have a School of the Arts, a Science and Math Academy, and two Montessori programs (1 that’s K-8 and 1 that’s K-5). We have an arts focused elementary school, IB high school and middle school, and AP options in all 5 high schools. We have middle and high school sports programs and after school clubs in all levels. We do what charter schools propose but we include ALL students – SpEd, ESL, 504, everyone.
We still give the tests mandated by the state and it does take a great deal of instructional time, but rather than teach to the test, we focus on AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) strategies throughout the district so that students learn both the skills to succeed in any subject area and the subject area content necessary to progress to higher level.
Our state is fighting a charter school initiative for the fourth time. I suspect (strongly hope?) that it won’t pass. Kevin Johnson came to speak and while the Tacoma mayor was there to support him, only about 100 people showed up and many of them just came to see a former NBA player and didn’t even stay for the whole show. Our district has proven we can be innovative, get results, keep kids in school and do it all without charter schools as an option.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“We do what charter schools propose but we include ALL students – SpEd, ESL, 504, everyone.”
Who would have thought that possible? Not the deformers.
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I hope they stay vigilant. The privatizers are determined.
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I wonder if Jonah Edelman claims Tacoma as one of Stand on Children’s V1.0 success stories or condemns it for its rejection of Stand on Children’s V2.0 punitive solutions. Probably does both depending on whatever audience he is trying to snooker.
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Send this to Christie in New Jersey. We are choked with regulations.
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Tacoma has all the same regulations I’m betting but we have people in authority willing to find ways to innovate within those regulations. So far we’re having good results.
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Good to see this about Tacoma! I’m elsewhere in Washington State, and, as you know, we’re fighting against Initiative 1240, which would admit charters AND create the most destructive “Trigger” (or “Tricker”) law in the nation.
I wanted to get some feedback from any of you. One of the “defenses” used by the charter backers is the following: “Don’t worry. By law all new charter schools in our state MUST be non-profit, and they are only allowed to do business with other non-profits!”
Yet, I know that in some of these technically “non-profit” entities, their “managers” can make as much as $400,000 a year, all of it taken from taxpayer dollars.
How do we effectively debunk the notion that as long as the charter and the companies it brings in to manage their school is “non-profit”, we don’t have to worry.
I don’t see a lot of difference between “profit” and “not-for-profit” charters. Do you? How can we make this explicit?
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Actually the initiative states that only non-profits can apply for charter school status but it does not indicate from where the non-profit can get its money. It opens us up to a religious organization or a corporation opening a non-profit and funneling funds into it. It is entirely plausible that these schools could have a great deal of influence from organizations that would not be allowed to openly influence public schools.
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A good question to ask people:
Suppose the charter doesn’t work out. How do you un-trigger it? How would you change it to a new operator?
Your local school has a school board who answers to voters. Who in the community has oversight or control of the charter? If there is a board, does it answer to the charter operator or the community?
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By law all new charter schools in our state MUST be non-profit, and they are only allowed to do business with other non-profits!”
No, that is not true. All charters under 1240v are started by non-profits and operated by non-profits but can contract out any and all services including management and educational services to a FOR-PROFIT company.
You could not “untrigger” a conversion charter. Another charter could take it over if it failed (or possibly the district) but the initiative is vague on that issue.
If the charter is authorized under the Charter Commission, you have NO one to go to for local elected oversight. The member of the Charter Commission are NOT elected and have NO oversight, elected or not. There will be a charter board but they only answer to the authorizer, not the community, either the neighborhood OR the school community. The charter board may or may not include community members.
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A year or so ago Tacoma teachers went on strike and one of the things they fought was using test scores for evaluations. Of course the media didn’t cover it like they did Chicago. I believe they got a good compromise. I love Tacoma!!!!
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Hey…Tacoma Public Schools has some great Title IX compliance too…in the person of Jennifer Kubista, Director of Athletics and Student Life. In August of 2003, Jennifer was hired as the director of athletics and activities in Tacoma, an urban district of 28,000 students. Jennifer was the also the FIRST woman hired in this position. The greatest accomplishment thus far in Jennifer’s career came in August of 2010, when the
school district gained equity by being taken off the federal Title IX watch list for longstanding inequities in their athletic programs. The Tacoma School District is only the second school district in Washington state to accomplish this. Jennifer states that this is truly the accomplishment of the coaches and administrators dedication to gaining equity. Indeed that is true..but the person behind the nudging, programs and expectations that got people on board was Jennifer, who was then honored for this work in 2011 by being named the Washington Secondary Schools Athletic Administrators Association Director of the Year. Jennifer was a keynote speaker at the April 2012 Washington State AAUW conference held at UWT in Tacoma. She held us spellbound as she shared her journey and that of the district to get off the Title IX watch list. Her job now includes efforts to train and reduce harassment, intimidation and bullying. She is an amazing contributor to a sizable school district. A charter school would never get a professional of this caliber.
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