What makes blended learning different in an Opportunity Culture®? As two pioneering high school teachers in North Carolina show in new vignettes, blended learning gives them a tool to reach 40 to 100 percent more students per class period with great teaching. Students...
student learning growth
Dashboard Shows: As Opportunity Culture® Spreads, Teachers, Students Reap Benefits
Curious about the impact of an Opportunity Culture®? We've just updated our dashboard, as we will every year, with the latest statistics. Such as: 110+ schools at 17 sites in 7 states—and growing 34,000+ students taught by teachers extending their reach—a 50 percent...
Opportunity Culture® Voices: For Truly Personalized Learning, I Had to Try, Try Again
After 26 years of teaching, I was the model of a traditional teacher. Class began with review, then new material and cooperative or independent work, then closure. But two years ago, intrigued by my district’s request that I pioneer an Opportunity Culture® biology...
Doubled Odds of Higher Growth: N.C. Opportunity Culture® Schools Beat State Rate
Fifty-nine percent of Opportunity Culture® schools in North Carolina exceeded student growth expectations in 2015–16, more than double the percentage of N.C. schools overall at just 28 percent, according to school performance data the state released September 2. ...
Opportunity Culture® Voices: Raising My Teacher Voice
“What does ‘teacher voice’ actually mean? Until this year, it sounded like a nice phrase, but it didn’t hold much meaning for me.
“But I have a job I love, one that shakes up traditional teaching and holds the promise of making a huge difference in students’ and teachers lives—as it did for my students. I wanted to spread the word about my job—and now, with positions like mine under threat at my school, I needed to find my voice. I needed to empower others to explore the idea of an Opportunity Culture.”
–Nashville, Tenn., Math Multi-Classroom Leader® Karen Wolfson, in Raising My Teacher Voice to Save My Job–and My Students’ Success
Last year, as the multi-classroom leader for fifth- and sixth-grade math at Bailey STEM Magnet Middle School, a high-poverty, historically low-performing school, Karen Wolfson took her teaching team and their students to new heights:
“Our school had the highest level of growth in the entire district in math in grades three through eight. My team’s two teachers overcame the long odds that the previous year’s data predicted they would face. In one grade, we were projected to have just 12 students rank as proficient or advanced. We ended the year with 43. We saw similar results in the other grade. Both teachers ended the year with the highest level of teacher effectiveness and evaluation scores.
“These teachers were new to the district, its protocols, and the Tennessee state standards, and one was a first-year teacher. Their results were practically unheard of—but under the MCL model, they felt supported and successful.”
But a coming merger of her school with a high school threatens to do away with the MCL model that Karen feels passionate about.
“I can’t let MCL positions disappear. I want to see my district provide many, many more opportunities like mine. And that’s why I took the idea of “teacher voice” very seriously—and what I found was just how powerful my voice can be.”
Read what Karen did to raise her voice, and why she intends to keep speaking up, in the latest Opportunity Culture column in Real Clear Education, and hear her thoughts on an Opportunity Culture.
Opportunity Culture® Voices: Blending Better Learning for More Kids
“Technology in education is one of the most exciting, terrifying and threatening developments for teachers today. Now into my second year as a blended-learning history teacher—meaning I have a group of students in my classroom every other day, assigning them to work online, at home, on the ‘off’ days—I’ve found the scary parts less frightening than most fear, with far greater benefits than I expected.
“My blended classroom opens the door to 21st-century learning, student-centered instruction, project-based learning, and an emphasis on learning as a lifelong experience, not just what you do for six hours at school. Rather than being another challenge for teachers or a new education fad, my class helped tie this all together.
“It’s been intense but gratifying: Because I teach one class while another works from home, I reach twice as many students in that period than in a traditional setting. The challenge is to reach more students while keeping results as strong as before I extended my reach—and preferably stronger. In the first blended year, my students’ growth scores in American History I were well above the district average, with students exceeding “expected” growth; this year, my blended class averaged higher growth than my traditional class.
“And this isn’t restricted to already-great or highly motivated students—I’ve seen high growth from honors, ESL, special education and average students alike.”
–Cabarrus County, N.C., American History Blended-Learning Teacher Scott Nolt, in Blending the Best: Better Learning for More Kids
What does Scott Nolt pinpoint as keys to getting that high growth in his students? In the latest Opportunity Culture column in Real Clear Education, Nolt notes three big priorities educators should focus on in designing a blended class–including a total commitment to a whole new way of teaching, and an ability to adjust quickly to the different needs of a blended environment. “My class is evolving faster than ever,” Nolt says.
Read more in his full column, and hear his thoughts on students in a blended classroom.
Opportunity Culture® Results: Dashboard 2.0
22,000+ students reached by Opportunity Culture® teachers, more than 800 teachers in advanced or team roles, $2 million in higher pay in one year alone, and more high growth and less low growth than other schools: These are just a few results from the schools in...
Opportunity Culture® Voices: Why All Schools Need Multi-Classroom Leadership
"When I was asked to be on my school’s design team for a new initiative, I had no idea what I was getting into. I heard it would help build relationships with students and the community, and improve learning, so I thought, 'Cool. I’m in. That is right up my alley.'...
New Models Combine Teacher Leadership, Digital Learning
Teachers using blended learning need guidance to help students achieve high-growth learning consistently. Teacher-leaders and their teams need time to collaborate and learn together on the job. Students need access to personalized instruction that catalyzes consistently high growth and expands their thinking.
How can schools achieve all of these goals? Combine blended learning with teacher leadership. Two new models from Public Impact explain how elementary and secondary schools can combine Time-Technology Swaps and Multi-Classroom Leadership— while paying teachers far more, sustainably.
In middle and high schools, students in these models rotate on a fixed schedule between a learning lab and regular classrooms—a “Time-Technology Swap.” In the lab, students learn online, using digital instruction, and offline, pursuing skills practice and project work. This lab time, supervised by paraprofessionals, frees teachers’ time. That time allows teachers, working on teams led by multi-classroom leaders, to teach additional classes, and to plan and collaborate with their teammates on the job. Class time with the teacher is focused primarily on engaging portions of instruction that are best taught in person and in small-group follow-up. Lab work is chosen and directed by the multi-classroom leaders and their team teachers, and is personalized to each student. In some high schools, students do assigned digital learning and project work at home during part of the school day, rather than in a learning lab.
In elementary schools, students similarly engage in personalized digital learning and/or offline skills practice and project work for a limited, age-appropriate portion of the day at school. This frees multi-classroom leaders and team teachers to reach more students without increasing instructional group sizes, and to plan and improve together based on data about student progress each week.
Why should schools combine blended learning and teacher-led teams?
- All students reached with excellence: 100 percent of students can have one or more excellent teachers responsible for their learning in each affected subject, without larger classes.
- On-the-job learning and support for teachers: Teachers can gain and consolidate planning and collaboration time, and teachers can get more support and on-the-job development from multi-classroom leaders.
- Teachers earn more—often much more: Pay increases of up to 67 percent are possible for multi-classroom leaders, while pay for blended-learning teachers on the team can increase up to about 25 percent, within regular budgets, not temporary grants.
Many Opportunity Culture schools are already combining Time Swaps and Multi-Classroom Leadership. These new models offer a glimpse at what they are doing, and provide a starting point for additional schools that want to reach all students with excellent teaching and provide all teachers with career advancement opportunities and on-the-job development and support—creating an Opportunity Culture for all.
Opportunity Culture® Voices: Mixing Team Leadership, Specialization
“ 'One-teacher-one-classroom' is a phrase you hear a lot in education these days: For the past 11 years, that described me. I taught on my own in self-contained third- and fifth-grade classrooms, and I loved my job. But I had enough leadership opportunities, such as...