Sharon Kebschull Barrett

Prep for the Testing Homestretch with Data: March Webinar

As schools prepare for end-of-year testing, how can teachers and teaching team leaders use data to motivate students and teachers and celebrate learning growth? Join us for a free, 45-minute webinar on March 14, led by Erin Burns Mehigan, a former teacher-leader...

For Strong Educator Recruitment, Start Now: Tips from Opportunity Culture® District Leaders

For Nicole Hayes, recruiting educators to Nash County Public Schools means facing some stiff competition. Nash County abuts the much larger—and much wealthier—Wake County Public Schools in North Carolina.

And yet, “we’ve been able to retain teachers and bring some back to our district who left to go to Wake because their [pay] supplements are way higher,” she said.

Hayes, Nash’s Opportunity Culture director, and her peers in other districts of varying size have successfully improved their recruitment efforts for Opportunity Culture educator roles using some of the same strategies—garnering their districts not only more, but also stronger, applicants.

Succeeding—and Paying It Forward—as an International MTRT

When Raissa Renacia arrived from the Philippines in 2019 to teach math in Ector County, Texas, she had a lot of questions.

From where to find rice to how to manage an American classroom, Renacia found herself wishing she had one person to give her answers. Today, in her third year in the Master Team Reach Teacher (MTRT) role, she’s become that mentor for other international teachers.

Celebrating 10 Opportunity Culture® Years!

We are kicking off the 2023-24 school year with big celebrations–and big plans for more! At Public Impact, we’re celebrating our 10th year of helping schools implement what district leaders call “game-changing” Opportunity Culture innovative staffing models, proven to get results for student learning and educator satisfaction. 

Since the first pioneering districts began implementing Opportunity Culture models in 2013-14, the national Opportunity Culture initiative to reach more students with excellent teaching and more educators with excellent careers keeps growing! We’re excited to see all that Opportunity Culture schools have achieved so far, and ready to reach many more in the second decade.

Opportunity Culture® Models Bring a Team Approach to the Science of Reading

In North Carolina, a newfound focus on the science of reading led to the mandated use of the professional learning program LETRS, or Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling. Making the shift from “balanced literacy” to instruction based on the science of reading takes significant time and training—adding strain on Covid-weary teachers, as Education Week reported.

With their team-based approach, Opportunity Culture schools can ease some of that stress. Opportunity Culture schools place teachers with proven records of student growth in Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL) roles, leading small teams of teachers and paraprofessionals. Read more…

Kids Need Tutoring. Few Kids Get Tutoring. Opportunity Culture® Models Can Help. 

Despite a steady national drumbeat about the power of high-dosage tutoring to help students rebound from the dramatic post-Covid learning dip, the National Center for Education Statistics reported on Wednesday that such tutoring reaches only about one in 10 students. Although 37 percent of schools reported that they offer high-dosage tutoring—that is, at least a half-hour of one-on-one or small-group instruction three times a week with a trained educator—not even a third of students in those schools receive the tutoring. Read more…

New from Public Impact®: How Opportunity Culture® Models Strengthen Educator Professional Learning

In Building Better PL: How to Strengthen Teacher Learning, researchers Heather Hill and John Papay highlight six key design features of effective professional learning, or PL. Those features fall under two general principles for effective PL—it supports teachers’ day-to-day practice, and it involves accountability for change and improvement. Opportunity Culture schools, which provide routine, job-embedded PL through multi-classroom leader teams, notably hit the mark for those two principles and each of the key features.

Fidelity and Collaboration: Opportunity Culture® Directors Share Advice on Common Challenges

By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, October 17, 2022

Whether in districts large or small, rural or urban, Opportunity Culture directors often travel similar arcs from initial design issues to implementation challenges and successes. At the September virtual gathering of Opportunity Culture directors, four panelists shared how Opportunity Culture implementation has improved their district recruitment, teacher support, and student success, and discussed the collaboration needed among district offices, accountability concerns, and how their roles have changed.

Texas Opportunity Culture® District Trumpets Recruitment Success

By Paola Gilliam and Sharon Kebschull Barrett, September 14, 2022

After struggling with teacher shortages for years, Ector County Independent School District (ISD) in Odessa, Texas, announced its best recruiting year in over a decade. In an Odessa American article, Superintendent Scott Muri attributed the recruiting success of about 450 teachers to several strategies, including Opportunity Culture implementation and pay raises.