Public Impact

Innovation. Excellence. Service. Impact.

Analysis: New Study Finds Huge Student Learning Gains in Schools Where Teachers Mentor Their Colleagues as Multi-Classroom Leaders

written by and on

This column was first published on The 74 on February 13, 2018.

In survey after survey, teachers report dissatisfaction with the professional development they receive. Many aren’t satisfied with their professional learning communities or coaching opportunities. Teachers say they want more on-the-job development, career advancement while teaching, and collaboration time.

Some teachers are getting what they want. But is that good news for students? Do their students learn more?

According to a new study released through the CALDER Center, the answer is yes — a lot more. Authors Ben Backes of American Institutes for Research and Michael Hansen of the Brookings Institution found that students of teachers who receive these types of supports from multi-classroom leaders in Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture initiative showed sizable, statistically significant academic gains.

[Read more…]

Brookings-AIR Study Finds Large Academic Gains in Opportunity Culture

written by on

Students in classrooms of team teachers led by “multi-classroom leaders” showed sizeable academic gains, according to a new study from the American Institutes for Research and the Brookings Institution.

Students respond to a multi-classroom leader’s question in a classroom in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

The team teachers were, on average, at the 50th percentile in the student learning gains they produced before joining a team led by a multi-classroom leader. After joining the teams, they produced learning gains equivalent to those of teachers in the top quartile in math and nearly that in reading, said the report, released on January 11, 2018, through the CALDER Center.

The gains the study attributes to team teachers are equivalent to those of teachers from the 75th to 85th percentile in math, and, in six of the seven statistical models, from 66th to 72nd percentile in reading.

These results show that students can consistently experience top-quartile teaching in math, and teaching nearly that good in reading, if schools place excellent teachers in charge of small teams of typical teachers.

[Read more…]

Beyoncé and Teacher Pay: TEDx Talk Tells All!

written by on

What does Beyoncé have to do with great teachers? Ranson IB Middle School Principal Erica Jordan-Thomas wants you to know:

“There are Beyoncé educators in every single school building dropping number 1 albums year after year in the form of mind-blowing results with their kids.”

But, Jordan-Thomas says in her just-posted Fall 2017 TEDx talk, those Beyoncé educators are being held back by the traditional one-teacher, one-classroom setup in most schools. And there just aren’t enough Beyoncé educators to fill every U.S. classroom.

[Read more…]

Opportunity Culture + Summit Learning: North Little Rock Pilots Statewide Plan

written by on

To kick off a statewide Arkansas initiative to reach all students with excellent teaching, North Little Rock Middle School will begin creating an Opportunity Culture for teachers and students this fall, using teams led by multi-classroom leaders—experienced, excellent teachers who are paid more to lead a team, and are held accountable for student outcomes, teacher support, and team success.

Additionally, the North Little Rock district will use the Summit Learning Platform to personalize student learning. Summit Public Schools, located in California, created the platform to help students set and track goals at their own pace.

[Read more…]

Advanced Teaching Roles: Guideposts for Excellence at Scale

written by on

For the growing number of Opportunity Culture schools—and schools using accountable teacher leadership and other advanced teaching roles—Public Impact provides a new suite of tools. They guide districts and schools to achieve excellence in teaching and learning with these roles, like the very best Opportunity Culture schools nationally.

The tools are based on four years of data that illuminate what school designs and implementation actions work, and what do not, to achieve strong student learning and teacher satisfaction.

[Read more…]

Opportunity Culture Voices: Extending Great Teachers’ Reach in Turnaround (or Any) Schools

written by on

What does the start of a school turnaround look like? When Mark Johnson left West Charlotte High School as his Teach for America stint ended, he likely could not have imagined a bright future for the school. I arrived a year later, in 2009. The high-poverty, highly segregated school was struggling, and I stayed only one year.

But my heart didn’t leave West Charlotte. When I had the chance to return in 2014 and make a difference as a teacher-leader, I jumped on it — I wanted to help spark a turnaround. This year, when Johnson, now North Carolina’s new state superintendent, visited, he said he saw “a different world over here.”

When he taught at the school, he explained as I showed him around, the “team” of instructors teaching earth sciences had exactly one meeting during two years. I remembered the mindset then: in my first year at West Charlotte, a co-worker threw a box at me for asking if I could have access to the supply closet to look for lab materials. And my mentor teacher’s best — only — advice for classroom management? Yell louder.

But now, three years after I returned, the school’s science wing is calm, students are learning and showing growth, and teachers collaborate daily.

Here’s how it happened…

[Read more…]

ICYMI: Opportunity Culture Columns on Class Size, Multi-Classroom Leadership

written by on

In today’s Education Next, Public Impact Co-Directors Bryan C. Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel take a look at the seductiveness of the concept of reducing class sizes–and why policymakers should resist temptation.

“The answer’s pretty simple,” they write. “A large-scale reduction requires hiring massively more teachers, dipping deeper and deeper into the applicant pool. It also reduces the number of students who have excellent teachers—the ones who produce more than a year’s worth of student growth each year, necessary to close proficiency gaps and help students leap ahead.”

Read One More Time Now: Why Lowering Class Sizes Backfires.

 

Multi-Classroom Leader Erin Burns recently showed new N.C. Superintendent Mark Johnson around West Charlotte High, where Johnson served a two-year earth science teaching stint a decade ago. In EdNC, Burns writes that when she first arrived at the school, the year after Johnson left, she encountered a “corrosive culture” that drove her to find a teaching job at another school. But, Burns writes, “I wanted to return to West Charlotte if I could lead and create change there for more students. The new Project LIFT initiative gave me that chance using the concept of an Opportunity Culture.”

Burns showed Johnson all that had changed since his time teaching. As the biology MCL, Burns helped change the work culture, creating strong relationships on the biology teaching team, a “true sense of shared ownership for our students’ successes,” and “an open system of feedback and dialogue.” And she brought with her what had led her to excellence at her previous school: a focus on data to improve instruction.

“This data focus has made a huge difference: In just my first year as MCL, the team moved from negative growth—falling short of the state’s annual student growth expectations—to meeting growth,” Burns writes. “And in preliminary numbers from this fall, we’re seeing an increase in student proficiency from 22 percent to 38 percent. The journey isn’t over yet; we still have many more students to reach if we stick with it.”

Read At West Charlotte High, Opportunity Culture making a difference for students and teachers.t

Public Impact®

Public Impact, LLC
Chapel Hill, NC
919-240-7955

Public Impact encourages the free use, reproduction, and distribution of our materials, but we require attribution. If you adapt the materials, you must include on every page “Adapted from PublicImpact.com; Copyright Public Impact” in the font size specified here.

Materials may not be sold, leased, licensed, or otherwise distributed for compensation. See our Terms of Use page or contact us for more information.

Public Impact is certified as a living wage employer by Orange County Living Wage.

Subscribe

Sign Up for E-News!
 


 
Read Back Issues of our
E-Newsletter
 
Subscribe to our blog with RSS

Follow

New from Public Impact

Identifying Schools Achieving Great Results with Highest-Need Students—Needs Index
Working paper explains the methodology for measuring the extent of support that students need to thrive academically, and how to apply the resulting School Needs Index.

Employment Opportunities—Opportunity Culture Operations Coordinators
Public Impact is seeking candidates for Opportunity Culture operations coordinators to provide support for the Opportunity Culture team.

Learning in Real Time—How Charter Schools Served Students During Covid-19 Closures
Profiles highlight how charter schools were able to respond quickly to school closures during the pandemic and continue to serve their students well.

Building an Effective Staff—Profiles of Leaders of Color
Three-part series looks at how 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.

Engaging Families—Profiles of Leaders of Color
Three-part series looks at how 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.

Building a Strong School Culture—Profiles of Leaders of Color
Three-part series looks at how 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.

The Impact of School Restarts—Lessons from Four Indianapolis Schools
Report analyzes how enrollment, demographic, and student performance data changed following the restarts of four charter schools in Indianapolis, IN.