Public Impact

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Personalizing Learning with Innovative Staffing + Blended Learning: 4 New School Profiles

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As part of a deep look at how schools rethink how they are organized to address each student’s needs, Public Impact and the Clayton Christensen Institute today released the second set of profiles of schools and teachers using innovative staffing with blended learning. These profiles, many with accompanying videos, set the stage for an upcoming white paper analyzing the patterns of the schools’ and teachers’ experiences.

We focused on schools or school networks serving disadvantaged populations that achieved better-than-typical student learning and provided students with more personalized experiences while using new staffing models and blended learning.

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Finding Inspiration Again Through Teacher Leadership

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This column first appeared on EducationNC on February 23, 2018.

As a young child I was always taught the famous proverb: If you love your job, you will never work a day in your life. I discovered my passion in education—my love for learning and teaching. So I have truly never “worked” since I was 21 years old. As I matured, though, I realized that we all need continued inspiration to keep pushing toward the goal of creating successful students.

After 11 years of teaching, I began to feel complacent. I knew the lessons. I knew the students. I knew the building. I knew the staff. My passion was dwindling. I needed to reach out and change lives in a different way.

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

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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.

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When Teachers Leave Midyear, Instructional Teacher-Leadership Keeps Classes Strong

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This column first appeared on EducationNC on February 7, 2018.

I recently sat down to talk with my principal about why the multi-classroom leader role has proved so crucial when midyear turnover leaves a teaching team short, or with a long-term substitute.

My journey in education began in 2009 when I joined Teach for America and was placed in Charlotte as a seventh-grade math teacher. In 2011, I left teaching to go to graduate school in Boston for social work, but soon realized how much I missed teaching—so by February 2012, I was back at my old school. The next year, I joined Ranson IB Middle School as a math teacher, just as Project L.I.F.T (Leadership & Investment For Transformation) began. This new learning community of traditionally low-performing schools within Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools aimed to recruit and retain excellent teachers, increase access to technology, and increase in-school and out-of-school opportunities with the help of donor funding.

Now under the leadership of Principal Erica Jordan-Thomas, Ranson is in its fourth year as an Opportunity Culture school, and I am a multi-classroom leader (MCL) for a three-teacher team. We MCLs wear many hats every day—we coach our team teachers using the Real-Time Teacher Coaching method from CT3 that involves live coaching through walkie-talkies, analyze assessment data, pull small groups, and plan lessons. At this high-needs school, we’re successful in large part because of the support and professional development we MCLs get from Ms. Jordan-Thomas in our weekly meetings as the instructional leadership team.

At Ranson, Opportunity Culture has helped us retain more teachers and filled most or all openings before the school year. However, as in all schools, sometimes the school must hire long-term substitutes when a teacher leaves midyear or takes extended leave. Here’s an edited and condensed version of our talk. For more, see the video of our conversation.

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Brookings-AIR Study Finds Large Academic Gains in Opportunity Culture

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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.

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Beyoncé and Teacher Pay: TEDx Talk Tells All!

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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.

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Days in the Life: Video, Vignette Show the Work of a Successful Multi-Classroom Leader

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When Opportunity Culture multi-classroom leaders describe their jobs—providing intensive, on-the-job coaching, support for planning, and data analysis leadership to a team of teachers while continuing to teach students, too—they hear the same question: How do you fit all that in?

See the answer in a new video and vignette from Public Impact: Days in the Life: The Work of a Successful Multi-Classroom Leader. These publications are useful for principals in Opportunity Culture schools, current multi-classroom leaders (MCLs), other instructional teacher-leaders, and anyone applying to become an MCL.

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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.