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: