Opportunity Culture

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How Can Policymakers Help?

State and federal policymakers can support an Opportunity Culture by giving schools ways to change teacher roles and pay so they can reach more students with excellence and develop teachers on the job—without violating current rules and policies. To date and despite substantial policy advocacy, no state has adopted all the policies needed to give every child access to excellent teaching. Instead, states have adopted a mostly uniform set of policies that fall far short.

These policy changes can enable schools to meet the Opportunity Culture Principles, which help schools ensure that roles extending the reach of excellent teachers and principals to far more students, and to their colleagues, are sustainable and effective.

Students need excellent teaching, consistently. Students starting behind need multiple years of high-growth learning to catch up. And no matter where they start, all students deserve the chance to leap further ahead and gain the problem-solving skills that great teachers develop so well.

Here are some resources to help you get started:

The Introduction to an Opportunity Culture slide deck with brief speaker notes provides a useful overview for educators, policymakers, and anyone else interested in dramatic improvements in education of why students and educators need an Opportunity Culture, how it works, the research supporting it, what states and districts can do to support it, and a list of more resources.
State policymakers will find much room for leadership in five policy categories in our Seizing Opportunity at the Top II Policy Brief and Checklist. See a table from the Checklist, below, listing urgent and optimal state policies.
Federal policymakers can see how to play a critical role in expanding students’ access to excellent teaching in Giving Every Student Access to Excellent Teachers: A Vision for Focusing Federal Investments in Education
See how policy can boost student outcomes when schools combine digital instruction with great in-person teaching in A Better Blend: A Vision for Boosting Student Outcomes with Digital Learning
Learn how state and district leaders can go beyond the requirements of ESSA to achieve a culture of excellence in ESSA: New Law, New Opportunity

 

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