Tacoma Education Association (TEA) President Andy Coons and Tacoma Public Schools Superintendent Art Jarvis announced today their historic alliance to improve teacher quality in the classroom with the primary goal to benefit all children in the Tacoma public school system.
The alliance includes a Listening Tour, beginning Nov. 30 that involves a series of forums – some with targeted stakeholder groups and some for the general public. The forums will allow stakeholders with an interest in teacher quality to share their expertise, views and suggestions. Through moderated discussions at these forums, the two leaders will listen to students, teachers, parents, civic leaders and advocacy groups, among others.
“We want to take advantage of a unique opportunity in the evolution of education,” Jarvis and Coons said in a joint statement released in conjunction with the announcement. “Every day brings more national media attention, commentary and movies about the immense challenges facing the education system. The heart of these conversations has a singular goal to promote higher achievement for every student and every school.
“While some attempt simply to point to teachers or teacher unions as root causes of failure, we choose to focus on collaborative solutions. We understand the fundamental truth that success in our classrooms depends on quality teaching. We share that belief and a commitment to achieve the goal of quality teaching in every classroom. We also understand the challenges, sensitivities and debate around the issue of teacher quality.”
The current labor agreement between Tacoma Public Schools and the TEA expires at the end of August 2011. While bargaining likely will begin next spring, Jarvis and Coons agreed to begin publicly discussing the sensitive issues surrounding teacher quality now.
“Providing for the best possible learning environment for all students in our schools is our first and primary responsibility,” Coons said. “Teacher quality directly impacts successfully educating our children.”
In that solution-oriented spirit, the alliance also involves a search for best practices by reaching out to education academic researchers around the country whose areas of study revolve around improving teacher quality in the classroom.
During the Listening Tour, best practices research and contract negotiations that follow, Jarvis and Coons stated they want to address four fundamental topics:
• Professional practice, instruction and accountability
• Professional development and support
• Enhanced flexibility, creativity and innovation for schools and teachers
• Career ladders, compensation and incentives
“We have agreed on a basic strategy independent of national debate, state legislation or outside solutions,” according to the joint statement. “Our agenda focuses on our mutual belief that our best solutions will come from enhancing Tacoma’s present system for selection, assignment and retention of excellent, creative teachers…We recognize the difficulty involved in changing decades of practice. But we both agree this is the most significant work we can do at this time in history. Ultimately, we ask for broad community support and understanding that our relationship with our teachers holds the key to our future success.”
The district will release additional details about the dates, times and format for the Listening Tour sessions as they become available.