Student Voice and Choice: From Ideas to Impact
November 2025: Olympic View students learn the power of their voice by advocating for new extracurricular activities.
Why Pedagogy Matters When Making Education Equitable
Boze Elementary Students work together through a math worksheet. In a project-based learning environment, students are encouraged to lean on one another and find their own way of learning and absorbing information. The definition of pedagogy is the practice of teaching, and the methodology used to influence children’s learning and...
WA is not only losing Black teachers, it’s pushing them out
Aria, center, a student at TAF@Saghalie in Federal Way, tests the structural stability of her cardboard prototype with teacher Purity Kamau. Students taught by one Black teacher by third grade are more likely to graduate and consider college, making representation in the classroom imperative for success of students of color,...
An Opportunity for Connection: Community Support for BIPOC Educators Boosts Teacher Retention and Student Success
Martinez Fellows gather at The University of Washington - Tacoma campus, ready to attend the first seminar of the year. Introduction: It Starts with CommunityIt’s an early Saturday morning at the University of Washington Tacoma campus -- educators, and aspiring educators slowly trickle into the bright and welcoming conference room...
An Invitation for Innovation: T-Mobile Partners with TAF to Share the Diversity of Tech
T-Mobile hosts TAF@Saghalie students at the T-Mobile 5G Tech Hub. Students toured tech labs, learned about the research T-Mobile conducts daily, and learned from a panel of experts in different professions within the tech space. Overview The T-Mobile 5G Hub is a maker space built to encourage the next generation...
The Role of Community in Boosting Engagement and Learning
Jaclyn Smith, TransformED Coach and Sarah Wilkes, Grant Writer at TAF participate in the longest paper chain STEM challenge at the Roosevelt Elementary School presentation of learning. The school day has ended and the hallways of Roosevelt Elementary are empty of students – but there is a buzz of anticipation...
Books, Buoyancy, and Beyond: Literacy Night at Beverly Park
Last month, TAF's TransformED school, Beverly Park, hosted its Literacy Night which also included student exhibitions. A wide range of community partners showed up in support of the evening, ready to meet students and answer questions.Students kicked off their evening with a passport, their goal was to fill it with...
Embracing Identity and Community, Martinez Seminar #4
With dozens of applications from early-career and future educators coming in from Martinez Fellowship hopefuls, let's take a minute to focus on what the fellowship offers. A good example of two of the benefits of the fellowship were on display earlier this month at Martinez Seminar #4 on Western Washington...
TAF@Saghalie Students Appreciate Their Teachers
For TAF's 2024 Varsity Luncheon: Courage to Act back in February, we highlighted TAF@Saghalie Humanities teacher and Martinez Fellow Jennifer Giuffre. What we didn't get to highlight, however, was how her teaching inspires her students. "You instruct less and put them in the driver's seat. You might be the navigator,...
A Trip to Microsoft, Powered by Super Volunteers
During last month's innovative STEM Expo, volunteers engaged with student presentations and prototypes both as an audience and as judges. Then, earlier this month, the students who scored the highest had the opportunity to spend a day at Microsoft's campus! It was a day completely curated for TAF@Saghalie students. 🎮🕹️🎮The day...
The Convening: A Time to Imagine, Heal, and Build
On February 23rd and 24th 2024, over 200 BIPOC educators and educational leaders came together for the Convening: two days to recommit to the work of educational equity and liberation. During the weekend educators collectively discussed problems in the education system. Then, they collaborated on ways to restructure classrooms and...
STEM Expo 2024: Presented by Google
On March 7th, Google once again sponsored TAF@Saghalie's STEM Expo. Every grade, divided into small groups, presented a project or prototype they created to solve a real-world problem. It took dozens of volunteers and months of student ingenuity to come together in an impressive showing of the power of interdisciplinary...
TAF Receives $2 Million Gift from the Yield Giving Open Call
In March 2023, TAF responded to Yield Giving’s Open Call for proposals aimed at awarding $1 million gifts to 250 community-led, community-focused organizations. We are proud to announce that TAF was selected from over 6,353 applications from all 50 states and Puerto Rico, who were evaluated by their peers and external panelists,...
First Creek’s Thermal Energy Final Exhibition!
Tacoma Power came out in full force for First Creek's exhibition day! Last time we checked in with 6th graders at TransformEd partner school First Creek Middle School, they had just launched into their project cycle with the community-centered question How can we harness energy to help our community? Earlier this month, First...
The Historic Black Educators that Inspire the Martinez Fellowship
https://techaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/no-representation.mp4TAF@Saghalie Humanities teacher Jennifer Giuffre comes from a long line of passionate Black educators taking a stand both inside and outside of the classroom. Black educators do exist and have existed for centuries in America. Admittedly, their ranks took a hit after Brown v Board of Education (which we will...
Icy Weather Can’t Stop Presentations at Roosevelt!
Roosevelt Elementary School came into the TAF TransformEd network with a wealth of experience and history. When we began a partnership during the COVID19 pandemic, its teachers had seen a lot. The school is over 100 years old and many of the teachers there are veterans with 10 or more...
What has Academy for EDvancement been up to? Family and Community Engagement!
Academy for EDvancement's 2023 Summer Institute. Research has shown that students' learning extends far beyond the classroom. With the relational fabric between our schools and our communities frayed for so long, students of color have historically been most impacted by the disconnect between teachers and their families. The Academy for...
Brigadoon Students Can Survive in the Wilderness Without Technology!
Well before Brigadoon 5th graders presented about how to survive in the wilderness without technology, there was plenty of excitement in the building. The front office staff was eager to come see what the students had been working on as they signed in visitors while a student in Mrs. Monte...
TAF@Saghalie Students Making Medical Interventions at Fred Hutch
Nearly 20% of cancer cases stem from infectious disease, which makes studying infections a major aspect of cancer research. Ten students from TAF@Saghalie's Medical Interventions class learned this firsthand as they did blood tests in a real lab at Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center.The Medical Interventions class comes from the...
If At First You Don’t Succeed: Project Launch Day at First Creek Middle School
First Creek Middle School is TAF's newest TransformED partner, and at their recent project launch, the heat was on ... literally! The 6th graders at First Creek will spend the next few months learning about thermal energy in Math, ELA, Science, and Social Studies. All of their learning will work to...
