By Marc Tafolla

As a community, we know that no other in-school factor affects students as much as effective teaching. Therefore, Oakland’s parents, teachers and community leaders have expressed a strong desire to help the city’s children access effective teaching in their classrooms. We also know that our children will do best when we work in deep partnership with their teachers to support their work in the classroom.

On March 20, our coalition will be gathering for Teaching Matters: The NCTQ Study Release to talk about the release of a study by the National Council on Teacher Quality, and actions we all can take to support effective teaching in every Oakland classroom (see below for more info).  

We’d love for you to join us – you can RSVP here.  

The Effective Teaching Coalition — which includes Oakland Community Organizations (OCO), SEIU Local 1021, Youth Together, Youth Uprising, The Education Trust-West, GO Public Schools Leadership Center, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights — will host this event to highlight the importance of supporting our teachers. 

Last Thursday night, more than 150 Oaklanders braved the cold and rain to join the Effective Teaching Coalition at its first event: “Teaching Matters, Series 1: "The Importance of Supporting Teachers So All Children Succeed." 

Around tables, we shared memories of our favorite teachers and what made them effective. We also talked about roadblocks to effective teaching in Oakland and heard from experts, and a representative from each of the coalition members. 

Click here to watch a video from OCO of presentations from GO’s Jonathan Klein and The Education Trust-West’s Arun Ramanathan. 

Click here to view a Storify presentation of tweets and Facebook posts we gathered from the night.  

Check out reports on “Teaching Matters” in Oakland North and Oakland Local.

Supporting our teachers requires resources and changes to a complex system. As a result, the Coalition commissioned a report by the National Council on Teacher Quality. Our coalition hopes that this study will provide an outside perspective on effective teaching, help collect data about and build our understanding of a complex issue, and increase overall awareness of effective teaching.

We hope this report will serve as a call to action for the Oakland Community to work in support of effective teaching in Oakland. We hope you’ll join us on March 20 for a great discussion.