The Tacoma School District filed an application this month with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to have the entire 54-school district designated as the state’s first Innovative School Zone.
In November, under newly enacted House Bill 1546, OSPI identified 22 schools statewide as Innovative Schools. Tacoma Public Schools landed four schools on the list – Stafford Elementary School, Lincoln Center, Science and Math Institute and Tacoma School of the Arts – more than any other district.
The School Board encouraged Superintendent Elect (Interim) Carla Santorno to seek the innovation designation for the entire district.
“Innovation is part of the Tacoma brand,” Santorno said. “We offer more educational choices, more options for students than any other district in the state. We decided we want to provide the opportunity for more of our schools to pursue innovations that offer our community even greater options for academic achievement.”
In addition to the district-wide application, Tacoma also applied for individual school innovation designations for Baker Middle School, which recently launched an effort in cooperation with the Tacoma Education Association to have all of its instructional staff become National Board Certified Teachers; and the district’s two Montessori-based schools, Bryant and Geiger. The district also applied for an International Baccalaureate zone that includes Foss High School, Giaudrone Middle School and McCarver Elementary School.
Santorno has established a new “program placement process” by which an administrative team evaluates innovative and creative ideas that bubble up from individual schools.
“We’re working to build a strong program evaluation process so we can determine what programs work and which ones need improvement,” she said. “We’re excited about the opportunity to offer more of our schools the freedom to be creative.”
OSPI will evaluate Innovation School applications from across the state and announce the designees later in the year. During the 2011 Legislative session, the Legislature directed Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn to identify existing schools in Washington that have implemented “bold, creative and innovative” ideas. The new Washington Innovative Schools program celebrates the state’s most inventive and exciting school models. HB 1521 and E2SHB 1546 directed OSPI to develop the criteria and the process to recognize existing innovative schools and create new innovative schools and programs.
To be designated as an Innovative School, schools submit an online application through the OSPI Web site. The applications are evaluated by a review panel that includes principals, other administrators and teachers, a representative from the Washington Education Association and OSPI.