By Sharon Kebschull Barrett; first published by EducationNC, March 18, 2020

Can deep dives into large flows of student learning data actually lower teacher stress? Successful multi-classroom leaders, who lead small teaching teams in data analysis, say yes. When schools focus on small teams led by highly successful teachers, they help address the concerns North Carolina teachers expressed in a recent EdNC.org survey about professional development on using data and about having time to analyze and use data.

In the survey, to which 822 self-selected teachers responded, teachers generally expressed confidence in their ability to use data to improve instruction, and said using it is important. But only about half agreed that their school or district provides enough professional development about using data (56%) and accessing data (58.8%), and only half agreed that their school or district’s professional development is useful for learning about data use (50.1%).

That’s a huge missed opportunity, and one that schools using Opportunity Culture models — centered on Multi-Classroom Leadership — directly address. Multi-classroom leaders, or MCLs, are teachers with a record of strong student growth who provide intensive, job-embedded guidance and support to teachers that focuses on what they and their students need right now to succeed. Read more…

To help Opportunity Culture multi-classroom leaders, their teaching teams, and other teachers lead student success, Public Impact has added to its suite of instructional excellence support. Our tools and professional development are based on experiences and feedback of top Opportunity Culture educators, as well as hard research.

We provide a free, full set of tools on Instructional Leadership and Excellence to help educators master each element—free training, teaching team study guides, educator videos, and other help for teachers, multi-classroom leaders, principals, and others in Opportunity Culture schools.

New instructional excellence tools:

• Instructional Excellence Support Guide: Overview and Support Tool—This guide provides detailed actions for each element in the Instructional Excellence Summary, and help for multi-classroom leaders in using that detail to guide and support teachers. Two detailed action lists are linked (Connect; Lead the Classroom), with more coming in 2020.
• Instructional Excellence Summary—This handy tool summarizes the critical elements of instructional excellence in one page. It is based on the strategies of outstanding, high-growth teachers who have worked in schools served by Public Impact and the common elements of several leading instructional experts, whose work is listed within. See the two new action lists (Connect; Lead the Classroom) below; action lists show key steps for each element in the Instructional Excellence Summary.

Don’t miss the newest study guides and accompanying action lists for two key elements of instructional excellence:

• Connect—establishing strong relationships with students and families to cultivate a culture of learning and respect. Study Guide and Action List
• Lead the Classroom—leading with purpose and compassion, setting and reinforcing norms for routines and behavior, in face-to-face learning and online. Study Guide and Action List

[Read more…]

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 for Public Charter Schools.

Identity and Charter School Leadership—Profiles of Leaders of Color:

1. Building an Effective Staff
2. Engaging Families
3. Building a Strong School Culture

1. Addressing holes and creating opportunities based on personal experience. Based on holes in their own academic experiences as a person of color or as a child from a low-income family, many of the school leaders in this series have taken nontraditional steps to address those same challenges in their own schools.
2. Emphasizing value over deficits. Many of the leaders in this series emphasized the value that students and their families offer rather than seeing their primary roles as compensating for or working around perceived deficits.
3. Providing an equitable educational experience to produce equitable student outcomes. The leaders of color included in this series all work hard to give students an educational experience like that of their more advantaged peers—an experience full of art, sports, travel, and extracurriculars—as well as opportunities to learn from their mistakes. In some cases, they have even built their schools around themes and curricula seldom available in low-income schools and districts.

“As a black student from a low-income background, my experiences outside of school were limited. Other students could afford the trips and activities that exposed them to the world beyond our small town, while I had to rely on books for exposure,” said Shonaka Ellison, a senior consultant at Public Impact. “It has been truly inspiring to speak with leaders of color who had a similar experience in school and now work tirelessly to ensure that their students have different, broader experiences, which will lead to their success in the future.” [Read more…]