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Opportunity Culture® News and Views

New Research Shows 2–3X Schoolwide High-Growth Learning Nationally with Opportunity Culture Design

by | March 24, 2026

In October 2025, Public Impact® reported on North Carolina high-growth results for schools; now, we’re pleased to share new findings from national data: Schools using updated Opportunity Culture® staffing design standards achieved, on average, two to three times the rate of schoolwide high-growth learning of other schools in the same states in 2024–25.

In addition, new third-party research in one district found a full extra half-year of learning in reading and more than an extra third of a year in math for students between 2020 and 2024. Prior third-party research on three districts found more than an extra half-year of learning in math.

The staffing designs create teaching teams that reached over 275,000 students and 10,500 teachers in 2025–26 alone and are expanding in 18 states.

“Educators continue to help students learn far more in roles designed to support excellent instruction,” said Bryan C. Hassel, co-president of Public Impact®, which founded the Opportunity Culture® initiative. “We see variation based on adherence to design standards associated with stronger learning, and potentially due to other factors like curriculum focus. Most important, students are learning while educators are earning more.”

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Breaking Through on Teacher Support: Pennsylvania, Mississippi Groups Call for State Action on Staffing Redesign

by | March 3, 2026

What would it take for states to listen to educators and support the talented people they already have in their schools? In Pennsylvania and Mississippi, two nonprofits recently sang the same tune: Support teachers and students through proven staffing redesign. Teach Plus PA and Mississippi First have issued calls to action by their states and districts that set an example for the nation.

Like them, we believe in the talented teachers schools already have, and in the power of staffing redesign to dramatically improve school for both students and teachers.

But in both states—and throughout the country—details matter deeply. States should not provide funding for a “let all flowers bloom” approach. Students and teachers need staffing design with a track record of success, state monitoring of design fidelity, and continuous improvement using data to maintain strong outcomes.

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“A Great Solution”: Opportunity Culture® Design on Future of Education Podcast

by | March 2, 2026

“Asking teachers to be superheroes and be all things to all students is an insane job description,” writes Michael Horn. After having Bryan Hassel and Ashley Williams of Public Impact on his Future of Education podcast to talk about Opportunity Culture® staffing design, Horn wrote, “The work Bryan and Ashley are doing speaks to a great solution—that also makes the job of teaching more motivating and viable.”

In Scaling the Transformation of the Traditional Teaching Model, Hassel and Williams discuss the power of teaching teams. In a LinkedIn post, Horn said the conversation left him with several takeaways, including that:

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Using Title I and II Funds to Support School Design that Boosts Student Learning

by | February 26, 2026

The U.S. Department of Education recently released guidance encouraging states and school systems to use Title II and Title I funding (“Title funding”) to redesign schools for stronger learning and educator satisfaction using “strategic staffing.”

Opportunity Culture® school designs are proven, evidence-based staffing designs that boost student learning by 2–13 months each school year—while increasing teacher satisfaction and reducing vacancies and turnover. Educators earn more long-term—within recurring budgets.

These staffing designs, created with teachers, have been rigorously researched and meticulously improved over nearly 15 years, using data about features that work best for students and educators. Dozens of options for small teaching teams led by excellent teachers offer schools design flexibility within data-based guardrails—to maximize learning while adjusting details to fit each school’s needs. Teams may include teacher residencies and apprenticeships as well as specialized roles, such as a special education team leader.

Mississippi Report Recommends Staffing Redesign, Highlighting Opportunity Culture® Models

by | January 30, 2026

In a new report, The Weight They Carry: Life as a Teacher in Mississippi, education policy nonprofit Mississippi First recommends addressing the state’s ongoing teacher shortage in part by improving compensation through both an across-the-board pay increase and redesigned school staffing models that allow teachers to advance and receive substantial pay supplements without having to leave the classroom.

The report highlights Opportunity Culture® models, which are in their first year of use in the Jackson, Mississippi, school district. Opportunity Culture® design can help address the compensation pressures teachers face; Public Impact, which founded the Opportunity Culture® initiative, has also consistently called for higher pay overall for educators. Collaborative Multi-Classroom Leader® teams can also address some of the concerns teachers have about unmanageable workloads, and the distributed leadership inherent in schools using these teams both reduces the burden on principals and strengthens leadership pipelines.

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“Great Success” in Bristol, TN, with Opportunity Culture® Models

by | December 4, 2025

In its new state of education report, SCORE (State Collaborative on Reforming Education) recommends elevating excellence in teaching as Tennessee’s most powerful investment, highlighting the use of Opportunity Culture® models to do so.

In a panel discussion tied to the report’s release on Wednesday, 2026 Tennessee Superintendent of the Year Annette Tudor, the director of schools for Bristol Tennessee City Schools, spoke about how Opportunity Culture® roles are making a difference for her district.

“We are partnering both with SCORE and Opportunity Culture to offer strategic staffing opportunities for our teachers as an incentive to keep them in the classroom…We’re seeing great success with that,” Tudor said.

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Latest Podcast: In Louisiana, HQIM + Teaching Teams = Early Signs of Success

by | November 20, 2025

When Charlie Butler returned to his hometown to become superintendent of the Madison Parish School District in northeastern Louisiana, he was looking for innovative ways to help the persistently low-performing system. With help from a state “instructional coherence cohort,” the district combined the support of Opportunity Culture® teaching teams with a focus on the implementation of high-quality instructional materials to address longstanding issues—and quickly started to see successes for both students and educators.

In the latest from Opportunity Culture® Audio, district and state leaders describe how they worked together to make it happen.