In the Media

From The Charlotte Observer, by Rebecca Noel September 16, 2024

Note: this article includes an interview with Stevie Roper, a multi-classroom leader educator. To hear more from Ms. Roper, see here.

There are some descriptors you might expect when you ask teachers what it’s like to work at their school. “It’s like Disney World,” probably isn’t one of them. LaToya Wright, assistant principal at Paw Creek Elementary School in northwest Charlotte, says it really is the most magical place on earth.

“You can sit in a class and see a light bulb come on for a child you’ve been working with right in front of you,” she said. “Seeing them grow… we really are making dreams come true.” It also has its fair share of characters, Wright says. Though they’re typically not in costume.

The school is a feather in CMS’ cap when it comes to accountability grades from the state this year. Paw Creek Elementary climbed two letter grades over two years in the State Department of Public Instruction’s accountability ratings — from a D grade in 2022 following the pandemic to a B for 2024. It’s on target to achieve an A rating in student math proficiency by next year. The school also received a score of 100 for learning growth in 2024, the highest score possible. It ranked first in CMS for growth and in the top 1% of schools in the state for growth in 2023.

Read the full article here…

From The 74, by Chad Aldeman, September 10, 2024

In this interactive article, The 74 calculated school districts’ expected reading proficiency rates, based on their local poverty rates, and compared that to their actual third grade reading scores to identify districts that are beating the odds and successfully teaching kids to read.  One of those districts in North Carolina is Wilson County Schools, which began using Opportunity Culture^® roles in 2021–22. Learn more here and here.

Read the article from The 74 here…

From WRAL News, September 8, 2024

Nash County Public Schools has made major strides in student achievement, according to recent data released by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

The district’s performance has improved dramatically, climbing from 108th to 33rd out of 115 districts statewide.

Read the full article here…

From EdNC, by Matthew Springer, July 17, 2024

…Strategic staffing practices have served as a catalyst for targeted interventions within K-12 education, from addressing the inequitable distribution and access to high-performing teachers to reconsidering conventional teaching paradigms. Promising approaches, such as North Carolina’s Advanced Teaching Roles Program, Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture, and innovative models led by the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, integrate and take advantage of strategic staffing practices by expanding teacher leadership, refining resource allocation, and enriching student learning opportunities. …

Read the full article here…

From EdNC, by Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel, July 8, 2024

Every year, hundreds of billions of dollars will evaporate from the U.S. economy due to permanent learning shortfalls post-COVID, by McKinsey’s calculation.

Research has shown high-dosage tutoring is crucial to addressing these shortfalls. In effective high-dosage tutoring, tutors provide students with at least 90 minutes of tutoring per week, aligned with the school’s curricula, in small groups based on their learning data, to build relationships and meet students’ instructional needs. Tutors grow their knowledge and skills through professional development and coaching.

But far too few students in North Carolina get this sort of tutoring.

Is there a way to get tutoring to everyone without increasing costs? Yes, by engaging all available adults to create a “tutoring culture”– for all, by all.

Read the full post here….

From A Generation at Risk: A Call to Action by Building Bridges Initiative, September 2023

In their recent report, A Generation at Risk: A Call to Action, the Building Bridges Initiative proposed five commitments they believe can serve as a foundation for a more responsive and engaging educational system for students. One of these actions is to “rethink how time and staff are used to improve impact with students and to improve quality of life for educators.”

The report states, “Fundamentally reimagining school-based professional roles is critical to better meeting student and family needs and to building more rewarding and sustainable careers for educators. Many have been experimenting with redesigning the one-teacher/one-classroom model. Some districts are reorganizing teachers so that they specialize and work in teams to reduce burnout. Others are experimenting with paying teachers differentially based on different levels and types of jobs, such as master teachers, associate teachers, community mental health providers, parent tutors, and so on. Dozens of school districts across the U.S. are already piloting this approach through participation in the Opportunity Culture and Next Education Workforce Initiatives, as well as in states (see North Carolina’s Advanced Teaching Roles initiative).”

Read the full report here.

From The Compass, by Sharon Kebschull Barrett, August 2023

Amid bleak news about student learning and teacher shortages, innovative staffing concepts offer hope. But school systems have limited time and funding—how can they ensure a big impact for their efforts?

Several staffing model design elements can boost both student success and teacher satisfaction. While some staffing design efforts accomplish one or two important goals, the best staffing models get results on several fronts and within regular budgets.

Read the full article here.

From Greensboro News & Record, by Jessie Pounds, May 26, 2023

The biggest thing they are trying to evaluate is how well a strategy called “Opportunity Culture” is working in improving academic performance at the restart schools. By paying extra to recruit effective teachers to lead and coach their peers, or take on additional students, the schools think they can make progress on recruiting and retaining great educators in the face of what they say is a shortage of experienced instructors.

The idea for Opportunity Culture came from Public Impact, a Chapel-Hill based company whose leaders designed and created the strategy in 2009. The cornerstone of that strategy, and the part that Oakley thinks is likely doing the most good, is the multi-classroom leader position.

Read the full article here.

The AFRO, by Kyair Butts, May 20, 2023

Imagine a world where the best of the best shared their insights with others without ego, red tape or hoops to jump through. Think of how you feel when you successfully collaborate on a project, idea or task. The results at completion usually far exceed what one can do alone. 

There is power when excellence is coached. Education should be shared among all who are willing to participate in the exchange—and this is where Baltimore City Public Schools gets it right, with the Opportunity Culture initiative. 

Opportunity Culture is truly an innovative and immersive experience for educators to share their excellence and coach others all while moving students in meaningful ways. The program began in 2019 with only three locations. At the end of 2021, City Schools boasted 20 Opportunity Culture sites.

Read the full article here.

From WestEd, May 1, 2023 by Kate Wright and Gretchen Weber

Differentiated staffing involves students in a classroom having multiple educators working with them in a range of capacities based on those educators’ strengths and skills. It has shown promise for reducing the burden on individual teachers, retaining teachers, and supporting new teachers, as well as advancing student learning. In this blog post, the third in the Money Matters: Conversations About Teacher Compensation Series, Kate Wright and Gretchen Weber discuss the model, its benefits, and possible barriers to implementation.

Read the full post, which highlights Opportunity Culture models as one example, here.