How can innovative staffing help reduce staffing shortages and boost learning? Public Impact’s latest brief explains how the Opportunity Culture initiative uses innovative staffing designs to create new career options for educators, increase collaboration and support, and incorporate high-impact tutoring for all students into the school day—within regular budgets. Following the five Opportunity Culture Principles, […]
How Opportunity Culture Models Strengthen Educator Professional Learning
In Building Better PL: How to Strengthen Teacher Learning, researchers Heather Hill and John Papay highlight six key design features of effective professional learning, or PL. Those features fall under two general principles for effective PL—it supports teachers’ day-to-day practice, and it involves accountability for change and improvement. Opportunity Culture schools, which provide routine, job-embedded […]
Maximize Opportunity Culture Models to Respond to NAEP Results
The NAEP results released this week may feel deeply discouraging—if not surprising—to weary educators. But Opportunity Culture research points to sustainable, scalable ways to improve student learning—and at Public Impact, we see ways to improve learning well beyond those initial research findings. This is the moment for Opportunity Culture schools and districts—and those considering using […]
Lessons from Pandemic Learning Pods
Over the past year, Public Impact has worked with the Center on Reinventing Public Education to learn about the innovations that emerged when schools shut down due to Covid, particularly, pandemic pods. In two reports and four case studies, we profile examples of pandemic pods and show the potential for innovation in the current education […]
Scaling up the best parts of learning pod staffing
New from Public Impact and the Center on Reinventing Public Education:How could the best aspects of learning pod staffing be scaled up? “Pandemic pods” created new opportunities for adults interested in supporting children’s education. In these pods—established by families, school districts, and microschools—teachers had the chance to work with much smaller groups of students than […]
Research Maps Supports Needed to Sustain Learning Pods
When Covid forced students to learn from home in spring 2020, families were left largely on their own to figure out how to fill the gaps in school structure and supports, leading to the emergence of learning pods. Some of these small learning communities continued into fall 2021, either because of continued pandemic uncertainty or […]
New on the Opportunity Culture Blog: Keeping Kentucky’s Teachers; Hear & Read Principals Reflect
Don’t miss the latest posts on the Opportunity Culture website! Keeping Kentucky’s Teachers: How Opportunity Culture Roles Could Help When the Northern Kentucky Tribune took a look at why schools struggle to retain teachers, Data Editor Jan Hillard noted several “best-practice solutions,” including Opportunity Culture models. Hillard highlighted Opportunity Culture roles, such as Multi-Classroom Leadership, as a way to improve […]
January Opportunity Culture Newsletter: Connect with Your OC Community & Share Strategies!
The January Opportunity Culture newsletter includes opportunities for community, a reflection from educators on continued pandemic challenges, tools and videos for educators, Opportunity Culture news, and more. Featured stories include: “Everybody is Traumatized”: Opportunity Culture Fellows on Keeping On By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, January 25, 2022 With ongoing Covid-related stresses this year, many Opportunity Culture educators […]
Upcoming Events with Public Impact Leadership
The Opportunity Culture Model: Public Impact Co-President Bryan Hassel will be a featured expert at the Next Education Workforce Summit, February 2–3, hosted by Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Read his Q&A where he discusses the Opportunity Culture initiative. Trends in the Teacher Workforce: Tune in to an online panel February 23 moderated by Public Impact Senior […]
New Report: The Impact and Outcomes of Full-Day Kindergarten
In a state where only 42 percent of kindergartners scored at or above grade level on the state’s Reading Indicator in fall 2020, the need for more and better early education is clear. Research shows that attending full-day kindergarten boosts students’ academic outcomes, self-confidence, and ability to work and play with other children. Yet Idaho […]
Tuesday Webinar to Address Innovations in Curricula and Professional Learning Post-Covid
Public Impact Co-President Bryan Hassel will join a panel on Tuesday, November 2, on “Learning at Home and in the Classroom: Innovation in Curricula & Professional Learning,” hosted by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading. Hassel will share how Opportunity Culture roles can help with teacher shortages, what professional development looks like on Opportunity Culture multi-classroom […]
Multiple Groups Recommend Opportunity Culture Models as a Covid Recovery Strategy
As districts continue to cope with a drawn-out end to the pandemic and worsening staff shortages, education research groups, advocacy organizations, and state and federal offices have publicized strategies for Covid recovery—with many suggesting Opportunity Culture models as one strategy to consider. U.S. Department of Education, Strategies for Using American Rescue Plan Funding to Address the […]