From OA Online, July 11, 2022
When a group of Ector County ISD officials turned up at Blackshear Magnet Elementary School, Principal Valerie Rivera thought the campus had won a grant or someone else was getting an award.
But that person was her. Rivera was recognized with the Elementary Principal of the Year award recently.
In her 28th year with ECISD, she has helmed Blackshear for four years. Rivera started as a bilingual teacher and worked her way up to assistant principal and principal.
Principal Julie Shields leads a school that ranks very high on Opportunity Culture surveys for communicating its Opportunity Culture plans and impact. She spoke with Public Impact about how she thinks through a communications strategy to keep Opportunity Culture implementation strong over many years.
From OA Online, June 16, 2022
Ector County ISD has announced that Superintendent of Schools Scott Muri has been selected as the Region 18 Superintendent of the Year.
Muri joined ECISD in 2019, from Spring Branch ISD in Houston. He has 33 years of experience in public education that includes key leadership roles in large districts like Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina and Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as in unique settings such as Walt Disney’s Celebration School in Celebration, Florida.
Sydney Garcia, a multi-classroom leader at Pease Elementary in Ector County ISD, says the MCL role is “the best of both worlds” allowing her to take on a leadership role while still being in the classroom.
Audriana Munoz, a teacher resident at Pease Elementary in Ector County ISD, describes how her yearlong paid residency, working under the guidance of a multi-classroom leader, prepared her to enter the teaching profession already feeling like “a second-year teacher.”
The May newsletter includes data dashboard updates; new Opportunity Culture sites; advice from district leaders in Ector County and Midland ISDs; reflections from the OC Director for Baltimore City Public Schools; thoughts from Hertford County, N.C. educators; and more! Read the May 2022 newsletter here.
By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, May 26, 2022
The communications team at Public Impact had the pleasure of visiting several districts this spring, for the first time since Covid hit, to interview Opportunity Culture educators and document their great work! We heard about their challenges and successes—what we learn in these interviews informs the guidance and support Public Impact provides to districts—and their opinions of Opportunity Culture roles and implementation.
Watch for stories and video clips highlighting specifics of their implementation and leadership and instructional practices in future months, but for now, here are a few of their thoughts to send us into summer:
Featuring a panel of Opportunity Culture® leaders, this webinar gives an overview of the Opportunity Culture® initiative and highlights how Opportunity Culture® models help strengthen teacher pipelines and address teacher shortages in Texas, which has led the way in establishing paid, yearlong Opportunity Culture® teacher residencies. Dr. Sharon Shields, superintendent of La Vega Independent School District (ISD), Marlene Garcia Sauceda, Opportunity Culture® director in Klein ISD, and Anne Erickson, chief people and innovation officer for Uplift Education, discuss why their sites joined the initiative and how Opportunity Culture® educator roles are transforming teacher experiences and student learning, and answer participants’ questions about specifics of Opportunity Culture® implementation.
From The Sentinel-Record, May 22, 2022
Cutter Morning Star School District is implementing Opportunity Culture models in its elementary school this fall as part of the Arkansas Department of Education’s statewide initiative to reach all students with quality, more-personalized teaching.
Superintendent Nancy Anderson said the district was approached by the department during the first year of its rollout and she visited the North Little Rock School District, which was one of the first schools to implement the program.
From OA Online, May 22, 2022
Interested in making a larger impact, Karen Vicory at Wilson & Young Medal of Honor Middle School and Sydney Garcia at Pease Elementary made the leap from classroom teachers to multi-classroom leaders. The position, through Opportunity Culture, gives them a chance to teach in the classroom and mentor their peers.
Ector County ISD Executive Director for Talent Development Ashley Osborne said the district has 49 MCLs at 17 elementary, middle and high school campuses. Campuses perform a redesign of their Opportunity Culture plan every year where they can determine the structure of Opportunity Culture based on campus need, data and context. “Next year, we are looking to add around 20 additional MCLs. Additionally, we will have 20 campuses utilizing the Opportunity Culture model,” Osborne said in an email.