Opportunity Culture

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In the Media

For Many Students, Teacher Feedback Is the New Grading System

From Education Dive, April 30, 2020, by Linda Jacobson

In Vance County Schools in North Carolina, teachers are also expected to provide feedback on all student work, “even if it’s just a thumbs up,” explained Casey Jackson, who teaches 3rd grade math at Aycock Elementary School, but also serves as a multi-classroom teacher as part of the Opportunity Culture model.

When students take online quizzes, they immediately see what they missed and what they answered correctly, she said. She also provides written feedback in Google Classroom. Read more…

Education Foundation gets grant for Opportunity Culture

From OA Online, April 16, 2020

The Education Foundation of Odessa announced Thursday that it has received a $500,000 grant from The Prentice Farrar Brown & Alline Ford Brown Foundation to support the implementation of Opportunity Culture in Ector County ISD beginning in the 2020-2021 academic year.

This grant will be payable over 36 months, a news release said.

ECISD and Midland ISD are introducing Opportunity Culture, an innovative approach to staffing that multiplies the impact of highly effective teachers, thereby improving student performance. Read the full article…

Ask & Answer | Here’s What We Know About Multi-Classroom Leaders

From EducationNC, Marc 23, 2020, by Mebane Rash

Readers have been asking what multi-classroom leaders will do during coronavirus, wondering if those lessons could be more quickly scaled to other schools while everyone is experimenting with e-learning.

On March 20, our colleagues at Opportunity Culture, an initiative of Public Impact, released this slide deck via email. According to Opportunity Culture, multi-classroom leaders are “teachers with a record of high-growth student learning and leadership competencies” that “both teach part of the time and lead small, collaborative teams of two to eight teachers, paraprofessionals, and teacher residents in the same grade or subject.”

Twelve Memphis Charter Schools Will Be Implementing Opportunity Culture This Fall

From Teach901, January, 29, 2020

In an effort to extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, an initiative known as Opportunity Culture will launch in select local schools this fall. Developed by the organization Public Impact, the Opportunity Culture model helps schools and districts design an innovative structure to extend the reach of excellent teachers to more students by asking them to lead small teaching teams that work with larger numbers of students.

Hope Public Schools Board Takes First ‘Opportunity Culture’ Step

From SWARK Today, January 21, 2020, by Shelly Byrd

The Hope Public Schools Board took the first steps Monday toward orienting the Hope Public School District to an enhanced culture of teacher excellence through its participation in the pilot of the “Opportunity Culture” model.

The board approved job descriptions for two key elements of the model, the “Multi-Classroom Teacher” and the “Direct Reach Teacher” Monday night.

ECISD, MISD to implement Opportunity Culture

From OA Online, December 12, 2019, by Ruth Campbell

Ector County and Midland independent school districts will implement Opportunity Culture with paid teacher residencies in partnership with the University of Texas Permian Basin. UTPB and its partner schools are the newest members in the University-School Partnerships for the Renewal of Educator Preparation (US PREP), a news release said. Ector County ISD and Midland ISD are designing their Opportunity Culture plans now for implementation in fall 2020 in 16 schools — eight in each district. Both districts have experienced large teacher shortages. ECISD has 350 openings. 

Ector County ISD and Midland ISD partner with University of Texas in the Permian Basin and US Prep for Teacher Preparation Residencies

From News West 9, December 8, 2019, by Leatra Hernandez

Ector County ISD and MISD will now have help with the struggling teacher shortage that has plagued the school districts. With the assistance of the University of Texas Permian Basin and US Prep, the school districts will introduce Opportunity Culture with paid teacher residencies. Opportunity Culture is a model that will provide teachers with greater support as well as give teachers a chance to lead small teams for higher pay and helping with developing new teachers. The model will be for strengthening the teacher pipeline for better education nationwide.

Opportunity Culture Improving Mineral Wells ISD Education, Rotarians Told

From Mineral Wells Rotary, November 1, 2019

Mineral Wells Rotarians on Wednesday heard how Mineral Wells ISD’s two-year-old Opportunity Culture initiative is benfitting teachers and students in its elementary school classrooms. Mineral Wells ISD school board member and Rotary program chair for the week Scott Elder brought Travis Elementary School Principal David Wells, who in turn brought with him campus educators Carla Watson, Patti Newsome and Lindsey Wells, who all serve as Multi-Classroom Leaders (MCLs) for the school under the Opportunity Culture program.

Stephanie Dean: Opportunity Culture—Extending the Reach of Excellent Teachers

From The Principal Center, October 28, 2019, by Justin Baeder, PhD

Stephanie Dean, vice president of strategic policy advising and a senior consulting manager, discusses Opportunity Culture for the Principal Center Radio. Listen here.

Stephanie Dean, vice president of strategic policy advising and a senior consulting manager, discusses Opportunity Culture for the Principal Center Radio. Listen here.

‘Opportunity Culture’ Schools in Guilford County Bested Overall District Improvement in Reading and Math

From News and Record, October 12, 2019, by Jessie Pounds

Nine local schools that added a new staffing model for teachers last academic year saw student performance on key subjects improve more than Guilford County Schools as a whole, state test data show. Taken together, the schools that implemented “Opportunity Culture” last year improved more than the district as a whole in both reading and math at the fourth-, sixth- and seventh-grade levels.

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