May 28, 2025
The Dream Team: How Collaboration Transformed Tuscaloosa City Schools
Ever wondered what it takes to transform struggling schools into success stories? Dr. Tonya Cruz reveals the blueprint that's changing education in Alabama. As School Improvement Director for Tuscaloosa City Schools, she's pioneered a system of continuous improvement that's yielded remarkable results—turning around schools that had languished on intervention lists for years.
Spotlight 4 Success: Spotlight 4 Success
00:06 - Welcome to Spotlight for Success
00:31 - Dr. Cruz's Work in Tuscaloosa
01:15 - Educational Journey and Achievements
03:28 - American Book Company Sponsor Message
04:02 - Closing Advice on Continuous Improvement
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Welcome to Spotlight for Success by American Book Company.
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I am Devin Pintosa, your host.
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We are here at the Alabama Federal Education Programs Conference in wonderful Montgomery Alabama.
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We are here with Dr Tanya Cruz.
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She is the School Improvement Director at Tuscaloosa City Schools.
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Welcome, tanya.
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Thank you.
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Thank you for having me.
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All right, tanya, tell us a bit about your work in Tuscaloosa City.
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Oh, wow.
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So my work is centered around continuous improvement at every level, from the school level to the district level.
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Just making sure that continuous improvement processes are in place, making sure that schools have very solid, continuous, or what we call school improvement plans, and making sure that those plans are not only developed based on a needs assessment but also monitored throughout the year to make sure that if any adjustments need to be made, they're made for the betterment of our students.
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That is wonderful.
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Tanya, yeah, Can you tell us a bit about your educational journey?
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I understand where you were a teacher originally.
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Is that right?
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Yes, yes, yes, I taught for 10 years in an elementary setting.
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I taught really all grade levels but subject areas.
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Actually, however, my main focus was with elementary math.
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So I taught math and then, after teaching for 10 years, I was recruited by the State Department to serve in the area of classroom improvement, and so I did that for three consecutive years and out of those years again was centered around continuous improvement and just supporting schools with, again, those continuous improvement processes, and from there I served as also a turnaround specialist in one of the middle schools that was traditionally known as a low-performing school Title I school and really worked and served and supported the principal and that entire faculty with continuous improvement efforts, and in one year they experienced a turnaround after being on one of the school list identification list for several years, okay, and then from there I was promoted to a principal of a middle school Again, some traditionally low performance in that school, along with, again, a Title I school.
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And so, with that being said, put some real intervention efforts in place.
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And again, that school experienced some turnaround in three years.
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It actually took three years.
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So then, from there, I was re-promoted to the district level, and that school experienced some turnaround in three years.
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It actually took three years.
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So then, from there, I was re-promoted to the district level and my current role is school improvement and turnaround administrator.
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So now at the district level, I support all 21 schools with continuous improvement efforts.
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That is wonderful.
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Yes, you are the school turnaround superhero for your area.
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Well, you know what it takes a team effort, it's a collaborative effort it's taking.
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You know, when we say teamwork makes the dream work, that is a true detection of what really needs to happen at every level, with the students, with the teachers, and then at the district level.
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So it's a team, collaborative effort.
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At American Book Company in Woodstock, georgia, we are committed to your students' success.
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As you can see behind me, we have our workbooks and we have online testing and ebooks that go on fancy iPads over here, for instance.
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They're all designed to help your students succeed and have higher test scores on their high-stakes assessments.
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Give us a call 888-264-5877, or find us on the web, abck12.com, and you can receive a free trial or a free preview book of your choice.
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Hope to hear from you soon.
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Bye-bye, that is so inspiring.
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Yes, do you have anything you would like to share with the Alabama Federal Programs Conference attendees here Well, I would just like to share everything that we heard today in this morning's section Really talked about putting really some true continuous improvement efforts in place, efforts in place and those efforts always.
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It's going to start with making sure you use your results, your data, to make sure that you drive everything that you do.
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And not only that making sure that you have some true critical initiatives, some true activities.
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Make sure you have a budget in place to support whatever resources are needed and make sure that you have that true monitoring component that is in place to make sure you're getting the results that you want for your students.
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That is wonderful, dr Cruz.
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I appreciate this so much.
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Again, dr Tanya Cruz, with Tuscaloosa City Schools, Thank you for joining us today.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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