By Public Impact, October 28, 2021

As districts continue to cope with a drawn-out end to the pandemic and worsening staff shortages, education research groups, advocacy organizations, and state and federal offices have publicized strategies for Covid recovery—with many suggesting Opportunity Culture models as one strategy to consider.

• U.S. Department of Education, Strategies for Using American Rescue Plan Funding to Address the Impact of Lost Instructional Time (page 16)
  • The U.S. Department of Education suggests schools and districts take a creative approach to staffing to address the impact of lost instructional time. The department highlights Opportunity Culture models that schools and districts can implement using ARP ESSER funds, noting that the Opportunity Culture initiative works to empower highly effective teachers who serve as models and mentors for colleagues.
• Chiefs for Change, The Return: How Should Education Leaders Prepare for Reentry and Beyond? (page 5)
  • This Chiefs for Change report proposes strategies to provide students with support and effective learning as in-person teaching resumes, including creating nimble staffing models that ensure that students have outstanding teachers, along with at least one caring adult in their school they can connect to. Opportunity Culture Multi-Classroom Leadership exemplifies this strategy, the report says, with research-backed results and the ability to ease episodic shifts to remote learning. (See also: How Schools Should Use Funding from the American Rescue Plan)
• Center for American Progress, How To Ensure Equitable Access to Great Teaching, (paragraph 58)
  • Recognizing that equitable access to great teaching is more urgent than ever in the face of the ongoing pandemic, this Center for American Progress report highlights the power of Opportunity Culture career ladders. By providing teachers and teacher residents with strong leadership and support, Opportunity Culture career ladders have positive results on student learning outcomes.
• FutureEd, Covid Relief Playbook, (page 20)
  • FutureEd focuses its playbook on strategies states and districts can use to boost student learning through funding from federal Covid-relief packages, and highlights Opportunity Culture schools as a promising initiative that fosters close teacher collaboration to improve instructional practices and student achievement.
• Council of Chief State School Officers, Restart & Recovery: Considerations for Teaching & Learning, (page 24)
  • The Council of Chief State School Officers categorizes areas of consideration for schools and teachers in this report, and highlights Public Impact’s Recommendations for District Policies for At-Home Teaching and Learning.
• McKinsey & Company, Reimagining a more equitable and resilient K–12 education system
  • McKinsey considers the opportunity for broader school change that Covid has presented, using Opportunity Culture’s Multi-Classroom Leadership as its example of a longer-term, radical approach to unbundling the role of the teacher, so that individuals can use differentiated roles that play to their strengths and preferences.
• Texas Education Agency, TCLAS State Approved Vendor List, (page 82)
  • The Texas Education Agency includes Public Impact on its list of organizations approved to support local education agencies in planning and executing the learning acceleration strategies of TCLAS, or Texas COVID Learning Acceleration Supports. The guide details how Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture initiative includes opportunities for teacher residents who serve on teams led by multi-classroom leaders.

North Carolina and Arkansas also have established, ongoing programs that can help districts post-Covid to design and implement Opportunity Culture staffing models (not to fund teacher pay supplements, which are funded sustainably through reallocations of existing budgets). And Indiana’s HEA 1008 Career Ladders Grant established one-time grant funding for schools to create career pathways that “offer high-performing teachers opportunities to advance in their careers and ensure that more students have exposure to highly effective teachers,” with the Opportunity Culture model as one of two specifically named as eligible for implementation funding.

Click here for details on studies of Opportunity Culture implementation.