By Public Impact How has being a person of color affected the ways in which successful charter school leaders built schools where students, families, and staff learn, grow, and thrive? We profiled eight such leaders to find out, in a three-part series written by Public Impact’s Daniela Doyle, Juli Kim, Shonaka Ellison, and Ismael Hernandez-Cruz in partnership with the National Alliance […]
The Killer App for Digital Learning at Scale: Human Connection
By Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan Hassel; first published in Education NC. Digital learning has gotten a bad rap, in some cases reasonably so, especially for the lack of results with disadvantaged learners. Meanwhile, alarms are sounding about the rise of online screen time co-timed with surges in anxiety, depression, suicide and insomnia among teens and young adults, here and […]
More From the Opportunity Culture Fellows Convening
In September, Public Impact convened its Opportunity Culture Fellows for collaboration and learning, featuring sessions on tools to help educators personalize instruction, the science of reading, strategies of multi-classroom leaders and principals for team leadership and leading schoolwide change, and effective advocacy within schools and districts. On the Opportunity Culture blog, we are sharing some […]
Did Indianapolis students do better after struggling schools were restarted? A new study takes a look.
Chalkbeat, November 1, 2019, by Stephanie Wang When Indianapolis Public Schools “restarted” chronically struggling schools, students who stayed under the new management sometimes made smaller gains on tests compared to their classmates who left, a new study finds. Over time, however, students at the restarted schools closed some of the gaps. The study by Public […]
Early Indianapolis Restarts Shed Light About Improvement Strategy
Districts are increasingly joining with external providers—often charter operators—to implement “restarts” as one way to turn around persistently struggling schools. In a restart, a school continues to serve the same community, while its new provider receives operational autonomy in exchange for a contractual commitment to raise student outcomes. Our ongoing research has documented more than […]
Learning From and With Opportunity Culture Fellows
In September, Public Impact convened its Opportunity Culture Fellows for a day of collaboration and learning which featured sessions on tools to help educators personalize instruction, the science of reading, multi-classroom leader & principal strategies for team leadership and leading schoolwide change, and effective advocacy within schools and districts. On the Opportunity Culture blog, we […]
How To Get Past the “Talent Hogs” Problem
By Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan Hassel; first published in Education Next. A charismatic charter network leader reminded us recently of his high-poverty schools’ laudable learning results. His secret sauce? Wooing the best teachers and principals away from surrounding districts. We call this a “Talent Hog” strategy, and its prevalence explains, in part, why reforms […]
Of Course Money Matters, Now What?
Education Week, October, 14, 2019, by Rick Hess One of the more frustrating education debates of the past quarter century has been the debate about, as Gary Burtless’s Brookings volume put it back in 1996, Does Money Matter? I mean, it’s tough to think of anywhere else in American life where we’d even have that discussion. If […]
The Impact of School Restarts: Lessons from Four Indianapolis Schools
Report considers the impact of four charter school restarts in Indianapolis.
Learning from Project L.I.F.T.: Legacy of a Public-Private School Turnaround Initiative
Report examines successes, challenges, and lessons from a private-public district turnaround initiative.
How Can We Extend the Reach of Great Teachers? A Q&A with Stephanie Dean on Opportunity Culture
Ahead of the Heard, August 14, 2019, by Chad Aldeman How should we train teachers? How do we ensure that all students have access to great teaching? Those questions are at the heart of many education policy debates. While it may be difficult to “raise the bar” on the teaching profession by erecting barriers to entry, […]
How to Reach Far More Young Children with Excellent Teaching
Read our vision brief: Excellent Teaching for Every Young Child: Opportunity Culture in Early Childhood Education What if far more children ages 0–5 who are in early childhood education and care settings had consistent access to excellent teaching? In these critical developmental years, young children—especially those who have fewer educational and developmental advantages outside of […]