By Judith K. Martin-Tafoya
Principal, Truman Middle School
As the principal of Truman Middle School, I would like to commend the Public Education Department and Albuquerque Public Schools for providing struggling schools with an opportunity to have one-on-one coaching from a valued and knowledgeable peer, Dr. Pat Woodard and Dolores Vigil-Frank.
We, at Truman, were skeptical when we heard that we would have a "turn around specialist" assigned to our school because we had reasons to mistrust an outsider coming to our school to "fix it." Truman has been a leader in continuous improvement and standards based instruction thanks to the training we have received from Albuquerque Public Schools and the Regional Quality Center.
But, when we hit a glitch one year when our scores remained stagnant we were told by "experts" who did not tour our school, visit our classrooms or speak with our students that our teacher professional development was provided like "buckshot" and that we "didn't care if students learned or not" and "we didn't care if the students came to school at all."
Well, you can imagine the effect those ludicrous comments had on a hardworking, diligent and conscientious staff of professionals. Therefore, when our scores rose expeditiously this past fall, we were ecstatic and knew that all of our previous training— be it 'buckshot' or not— and our increased knowledge around curriculum and instruction were finally paying off.
The addition of Dr. Woodard has been the icing on the cake. She takes the time to value the work of our instructional council, our teacher leaders and our faculty. She takes the time to help me with the analysis of data and how to plan for the "next steps" needed toward our goal of academic achievement for all students. She sits with the leadership council and talks through our issues and gives us valuable tips and strategies that will increase our students' academic achievement. Her suggestions and strategies are solid, proven and steeped in curricular knowledge that we at Truman appreciate. Dr. Woodard has become a loved and respected member of the Truman Learning Community.
Moreover, I must agree with my colleague from Ernie Pyle when she questioned the need for both a Cluster Leader Principal and a Support Principal. Dr. Woodard has done more for Truman Middle School's morale and critical conversations around teaching and learning than any supervisor I have ever encountered. Districts may want to consider adding more support principals who have that deep curriculum and instructional knowledge to help principals adjust to the expectation that they must be the school's instructional leader and not just the building manager.
Truman Middle School's key student message is, "It is cool to be smart." Our students know their purpose at school is to learn. In addition, the key motto for Truman's staff is "from good to great." We don't just rattle off our key messages, we live and breath them and believe in their impact on instruction and learning. Truman Middle School was on that road to greatness, but the addition of a support principal who has given us that nudge to go further, question a little deeper, jump a little higher has no doubt instilled in us the confidence and certainty that we will reach our goals much sooner than later.
Thank you Public Education Department and Albuquerque Public Schools. And, thank you Dr. Woodard. The Truman staff loves you.
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