By Maina Cisneros; first published by The 74, June 19, 2017
“Finally, I had an aha moment! We had to unchain ourselves from our one-teacher-one-classroom setting.” After her school incorporates Opportunity Culture models, the boost in planning time and collaboration allow Multi-Classroom Leader® Maina Cisneros and her team to develop a small-group strategy to increase literacy—and great student growth follows. Read More…
Beverley Tyndall
Advanced Teaching Roles: Guideposts for Excellence at Scale
For the growing number of Opportunity Culture® schools—and schools using accountable teacher leadership and other advanced teaching roles—Public Impact® provides a new suite of tools. They guide districts and schools to achieve excellence in teaching and learning with...
How to Lead and Achieve Instructional Excellence
Opportunity Culture® schools nationally achieve far more schoolwide high growth than comparable schools, on average. How have teachers who reach more students than is typical—directly or by leading teams—gotten that high growth? They pursue instructional excellence...
Opportunity Culture® Voices: When Students Own Their Academic Results, They Transform Their Schools
When you’re not sure where to start, ask your students! Well, not always, but when I came to Charlotte, North Carolina’s James Martin Middle School as a multi-classroom leader in 2014, I felt overwhelmed. I started as the MCL for sixth grade, where for the previous...
When Students Own Their Academic Results, They Transform Their Schools
By Erin Williams; first published by The 74, May 15, 2017
“I was shocked to discover in student conferences how few students knew about grade-level expectations; even fewer were aware of their own performance on the previous state end-of-grade test.” Multi-Classroom Leader® Erin Williams tells how she and her team of teachers create the “Strive for 5” campaign to combat negative learning growth and empower students. Read More…
Erin Williams on Being a Multi-Classroom Leader®
Erin Williams, a multi-classroom leader at James Martin Middle School in Charlotte, N.C., describes how she and her team use data to encourage students to track their own growth toward their learning goals. Can’t access YouTube? Watch this video on Vimeo instead!...
Elevating the Teaching Profession: A Call to Action
From CTL Online, May 10, 2017 by Deborah Walker
This research paper by Dr. Deborah Walker and Barb Myerson-Katz on how to elevate the teaching profession examines two broad categories largely under the control of individual districts and schools. The authors feature Opportunity Culture as one example of a research-based, comprehensive model aimed at boosting student learning by transforming teacher roles throughout a school.
Opportunity Culture® Voices: Extending Great Teachers’ Reach in Turnaround (or Any) Schools
What does the start of a school turnaround look like? When Mark Johnson left West Charlotte High School as his Teach for America stint ended, he likely could not have imagined a bright future for the school. I arrived a year later, in 2009. The high-poverty, highly...
How to Extend the Reach of Great Teachers in Turnaround (or Any) Schools
By Erin Burns; first published by The 74, April 24, 2017
“These are the changes policymakers can’t fully grasp when they look just at a school’s report card. But Superintendent Johnson saw up close the “different world” we’re creating.” Biology Multi-Classroom Leader® Erin Burns shows how Multi-Classroom Leadership and its intensive support could help change school culture and student results at West Charlotte High School. Read More…
IPS rewarding exceptional teachers
From WTHR-TV, April 11, 2017 by Rich Van Wyk
Here’s an idea to improve schools and teachers. Pay exceptional teachers more money. Give them the responsibility of helping other teachers and keep them from quitting to take better paying jobs. Indianapolis Public schools is trying to do just that and getting recognition from the National Council on Teacher Quality.