Congratulations to Midland Independent School District, which recently got the results of a study of its Opportunity Culture® implementation conducted by a Texas Tech University researcher. Among the findings, as presented to the district’s board:
The Multi-Classroom Leader® effect holds up over time—these team leaders “continue to be effective as the program matures rather than fading after the launch year.” Students directly taught by an MCL™ educator gain an extra two to six months of learning in every year studied in math and in three of the four years in reading. The study looked at the school years from 2021–22 through 2024–25.
Those gains were largest in grades 3–5 (an extra six months in math and four in reading), and economically disadvantaged students gained as much as other students. Additionally, the gains came through growth, not through stronger students being assigned to these educators.
Just taking on the role led to more gains: These teachers were already producing high-growth learning before taking the role, but they added even more reading growth after becoming an MCL™ educator.
The gains go beyond the students taught directly by the team leaders, and they grow over time: Campus-wide reading gains of four months in the first year of using Opportunity Culture® design grew to seven months by the third year.
And teachers on MCL™ teams showed higher value-added, with the gains persisting the following year.
Midland benefitted from a rapid reset by an experienced leader, as we previously documented. Before adopting Opportunity Culture® design, the 27 implementing Midland campuses had results that tracked comparable campuses in other Texas districts. After implementation, they outpaced the others, except in 2023—when Midland experienced repeated, rapid superintendent turnover. Then, the current superintendent, Stephanie Howard, took over and instituted an Opportunity Culture® “reset.”
Howard previously served as deputy superintendent in Ector County ISD, which also uses Opportunity Culture® design and led large-to-midsize districts nationally in persistent student learning growth through covid. Listen to our podcast about her leadership team’s reset, and read more from Superintendent Howard in her District Administration op-ed, How to keep teachers: Provide a complete package.
After leadership turnover, or other disruptions eroding design standards, rapid reset is cost-efficient and avoids lost years of student learning and expensive, extensive redesign. Not all districts needing a reset after leadership turnover will have a superintendent with Dr. Howard’s prior experience. However, all can use the annually updated, data-driven design tools in the Opportunity Culture® portal, alone or coupled with concise Public Impact® coaching.
