Opportunity Culture

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Midland, Texas, Educators Highlight Early Opportunity Culture Impact

By Paola Gilliam, January 21, 2021

Midway through its first year of Opportunity Culture implementation, the Midland, Texas, school district shared Opportunity Culture impacts so far with its school board on Tuesday.

“Opportunity Culture brings our teachers together, and it provides them the courage that is contagious in the classrooms we have,” Chris Hightower, the district’s Opportunity Culture lead, told the board. He introduced an Opportunity Culture principal, multi-classroom leader (MCL), and former teacher resident turned first-year teacher to share brief thoughts.

Despite Challenges, Educators Gave Us Plenty To Be Thankful For

By Paola Gilliam, November 25, 2020

This year has been unrelentingly difficult in many ways, yet educators have repeatedly risen to the occasion. Faced with events—a pandemic, political uncertainty, protests against racial injustice, and more—that have left many of us feeling overwhelmed, educators have been a beacon of hope in their communities through their continued support for their fellow educators, students, and families. We are thankful for educators who have shown compassion, innovation, and determination throughout an incredibly challenging year.

Free Webinar: Shaping Your School’s Culture for Learning

By Public Impact, November 23, 2020

Join Opportunity Culture Fellow Matthew How, principal of Ridge Road Elementary in North Little Rock School District, for a webinar on Tuesday, December 1, at 4 p.m. ET, exploring how school leaders can right the ship when teachers are unhappy, and use Opportunity Culture to create opportunities for distributed leadership and collaboration—and ultimately, happy and successful staff and students. Principal How will share how he turned his school’s climate around and his tools for gathering data and acting on it, and answer your questions.

A recording of this free webinar is available here.

Opportunity Culture: Teaching, Leading, Learning

By Public Impact, November 18, 2020

Why and how should you use Opportunity Culture? Watch our two-part video to get the scoop!

What barriers keep teachers and students from experiencing great support and strong learning outcomes? Part 1 highlights barriers that an Opportunity Culture can remove.

Part 2 details how an Opportunity Culture provides on-the-job, consistent support for all teachers to reach many more students with excellence, learn more, and earn more!

Watch the videos here.

In a Texas Opportunity Culture District, MCLs and Reach Associates Build Partnerships

By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, November 11, 2020

After more than two decades in education, including stints teaching kindergarten and English as a second language, Elizabeth Fernandez had settled into a district role as a data specialist for teaching and learning—until the multi-classroom leader (MCL) role offered her the chance to lead while returning to the classroom.

“When you’re in central office, it’s great, and you do lots of great things,” Fernandez said, “but when you’re at a campus, there’s just an energy and a love—it’s just the kids. I love these kids.”

But the appeal of working directly with kids again would not have been enough on its own, she said. Read more…

Opportunity Culture in the News

By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, November 3, 2020

Opportunity Culture’s effects on teachers and students have been in the news recently; don’t miss these stories in Tuesday’s Education Dive:

  • Three Ways to Build Teacher Retention: Mentoring, professional development, leadership opportunities… A virtual webinar on teacher retention for the National Summit on Improving Effective Personnel for Children With Disabilities featured Public Impact’s Troy Smith, who noted how Opportunity Culture career pathways let teachers advance without having to move out of the classroom.
  • Rubric for Recovery: ELs Face More Hurdles Amid Lost In-Person Learning: Multi-classroom leaders and educators in Opportunity Culture schools in Texas, North Carolina, and Indiana shared what they are doing to focus on English language learners.

Rethinking School Staffing

From AEI, October 8, 2020, by Nat Malkus

As schools confront massive budget shortfalls in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it is critical that they examine how they might use existing funding more efficiently. On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus talks with Bryan Hassel about how districts might rethink their staffing models in a way that will increase students’ access to excellent teachers and create opportunities for advancement within the teaching profession, all without spending more money. Byran is the co-president of Public Impact and a contributor to the newly released volume, Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck. Listen to the podcast…

Tracking fall reopening plans for all North Carolina districts: New database from EdNC and Public Impact

From EdNC, October 7, 2020, by Beth Clifford, David Gilmore, Cole Smith, Preston Faulk and Molly Osborne

Since the COVID-19 pandemic upended life as we knew it in March, North Carolina school districts have had to rethink how they deliver education. After transitioning online in the spring, districts could choose between a hybrid model with limited face-to-face instruction (plan B) and 100% virtual instruction (plan C) for the start of the 2020-21 school year this fall. Read the full article…

Free Webinar: Coaching Teachers Remotely During Covid

By Public Impact, September 8, 2020

How do excellent, experienced multi-classroom leaders support their teaching teams remotely during a crisis? They and their teams face extreme challenges of helping students through the trauma of the pandemic, racial violence, and protests while delivering excellent instruction—all while balancing their own stress and personal needs.

Join us on September 15th at 4:30 p.m. ET to hear three multi-classroom leaders share their tips and resources for supporting and coaching teachers when some or all are working from home. This free webinar is open to anyone, not just Opportunity Culture educators. View the webinar and resources here.

Will Learning Pods Be Only for the Rich?

From Education Week, August 25, 2020, by Bryan C. Hassel and Sharon Kebschull Barrett

To exhausted or worried parents deciding whether to send their children into school buildings this fall, “pandemic pods” may look like an appealing way out. Keeping their boys and girls at home learning alone may be better for physical health but not for mental health, and the arrangement is difficult or impossible for many employed parents. Equally undesirable is the greater risk of children catching and spreading a potentially deadly disease from a larger number of people at school.

Some parents are creating home-based, closed groups of a few families’ children to learn together under the rotating supervision of parents or a paid supervisor. Pods could keep students’ learning and social-emotional development on track while helping protect their and their teachers’ health. Read more…

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