From Bipartisan Policy Center, July 8, 2026, by Adam Johnston
Why America’s One-Teacher Classroom Needs to Change
American classrooms in 2026, in which one teacher instructs 20 to 30 students, are strikingly similar to those from 100 years ago. Most teachers, like a century ago, have two main pathways to advance in their profession. The first option is remaining in the classroom, incrementally increasing their paycheck over decades. The second is to leave the classroom either for administrative roles in schools or to enter a new field entirely. However, there is a third option: Strategic staffing models allow teachers to grow in their careers without leaving the classroom. This explainer outlines what it means to rethink teaching through effective strategic staffing models and which organizations are leading this work.
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Public Impact released a report in 2009 calling for a new approach to teacher staffing where the most effective teachers could reach more students through redesigned roles. They named the approach Opportunity Culture and officially launched the model in 2013.
Key components of Opportunity Culture are: differentiated teacher roles and pay, expanded reach of effective teachers, and small-group tutoring. By the end of 2025, more than 1,150 schools were using this approach, most of which were eligible for Title I funds that serve low-income communities. A study examining 44 Opportunity Culture schools showed student performance improved across math courses. After implementing Opportunity Culture, the teacher vacancy rate decreased 17 percentage points in Ector County, TX, schools while Desert Willow Elementary School in New Mexico posted state-leading literacy proficiency results.