Opportunity Culture

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What is an Opportunity Culture? Broadening the reach of the most effective teachers

From Little Things First, June 2, 2020

Public Impact has been serving urban and rural schools for many years, helping them rethink what is possible in schools.  Opportunity Culture is a subset of Public Impact that explores ways to increase the reach of our best teachers.  is it time to rethink our model of instructional coaching?  Research shows that instructional coaches spend very little time working directly with teachers to improve instruction.  Opportunity Culture involves multi-classroom leaders who teach students and support teachers simultaneously, all within the constraints of a school’s regular budget.  In this episode of Little Things First, we discuss the potential of an Opportunity Culture with Public Impact’s Lucy Steiner.  Listen to the podcast.

Bright Spots: Celebrating Teachers During COVID-19

From Overdeck Family Foundation, May 26, 2020, by Irene Chen

To wrap up Teacher Appreciation Month, we wanted to celebrate and highlight stories of educators who are playing a critical role in supporting and teaching their students. As funders of teacher preparation and professional learning organizations, it makes us incredibly proud to see the positive impact that teachers continue to have during this difficult time.

These stories remind us that human connection and relationships are central to the work of teaching and learning, regardless of whether it happens in or out-of-school. Read the full article…

From math to PE, teachers creating online video library for Guilford County Schools students

From News and Record, May 6, 2020, by Jessie Pounds

Guilford County Schools is pulling together a new resource for parents and students, who are finishing the school year virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is an online library of district-made videos explaining topics that students should or would be learning about in their grade levels. Teachers and others have been working for weeks to make the videos. This week, the district started uploading them to a special spot on its website for distance learning. The school system called on teachers like Brandi Turner involved in its Opportunity Culture program to help make the videos. Read the full article…

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.

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