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In the News: Opportunity Culture in Indianapolis, NC districts

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on February 17, 2017

Indianapolis is experimenting with a new kind of teacher — and it’s transforming this school: At School 107 in Indianapolis, Principal Jeremy Baugh said, “We needed to find a way to support new teachers to be highly effective right away.” Chalkbeat covers how Baugh and his staff began using Multi-Classroom Leadership this year to help their students. Historically a low-performing school, with high student and teacher turnover and a high number of English language learners, School 107 has already been able to keep one strong teacher in the classroom as an MCL instead of moving into administration, and with its team of MCLs could face an unexpected influx of 181 students who joined the school over the past few months. Read the full story here.

‘Opportunity Culture’ initiative coming to Vance County schools: Vance County Schools has become the fourth North Carolina district to participate in the national Opportunity Culture Initiative, reported The Daily Dispatch, with three elementary schools being the district’s first to implement their new teaching roles and school plans in the 2017-18 school year. Vance will be using multi-classroom leaders and expanded-impact teachers. Read the full story here.

Teacher leadership roles come to Edgecombe County: At Edgecombe County Public Schools, the first three of the district’s schools to embark on Opportunity Culture roles form a feeder pattern from elementary through high school, where, says Public Impact’s Shonaka Ellison,”we’re losing some really excellent teaching in schools.” As Liz Bell reports in EducationNC, Ellison is working closely with Edgecombe County administrators and teachers at the three schools to to plan new teaching roles and career paths aimed at recruiting and retaining great teachers. She led some of them on visits to Opportunity Culture schools in Charlotte, which also has challenges retaining teachers in high-needs schools–but Edgecombe, she notes, has the added challenge of being a rural district. “For a place like Edgecombe County, that’s really rural, having this type of career opportunity for teachers will help draw more teachers to the district,” she said. Read the full story here.

For more recent stories on Edgecombe, see December 2016 and January 2017 articles in The Rocky Mount Telegram: Edgecombe schools seek opportunities* and Edgecombe school district pursues new teacher recruitment plan.*

Scheduled for Success: Frank Zaremba of Barnette Elementary in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools writes: “When I became a multi-classroom leader for the exceptional children’s (EC’s) team, I expected to be able to use my 15 years of experience as an EC teacher and dean of students to coach teachers, especially special education teachers, and help them grow. But I quickly discovered that the people who needed support the most were the general classroom teachers who needed to know how to work with students with disabilities when an EC teacher couldn’t be in the room at the same time. What was the key to getting everyone on the same page and making terrific progress? Scheduling.” Read his inspiring column on what they did, and the impact on students, here in Real Clear Education.

*Articles are no longer available online.

Vance County Becomes 18th Site in National Opportunity Culture Initiative

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on February 2, 2017

Vance County Schools, based in Henderson, N.C., has joined the national Opportunity Culture initiativeVance County logo to extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within recurring budgets. The initiative now includes 18 sites in seven states, including three other N.C. districts.

[Read more…]

Edgecombe County, NC, “Thrilled” to Join Opportunity Culture Initiative

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on January 11, 2017

To attract and retain great teachers, Edgecombe County Public Schools, located along the Tar River in flood-ravaged North Carolina, has joined the national Opportunity Culture initiative to extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within recurring budgets. The initiative now includes 17 sites in seven states, including three others in North Carolina.

[Read more…]

Dashboard Shows: As Opportunity Culture Spreads, Teachers, Students Reap Benefits

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on December 20, 2016

Curious about the impact of an Opportunity Culture? dashboardWe’ve just updated our dashboard, as we will every year, with the latest statistics. Such as:

  • 110+ schools at 17 sites in 7 states—and growing
  • 34,000+ students taught by teachers extending their reach—a 50 percent increase from 2015–16
  • 1,250+ teachers with advanced roles or on-the-job development—a 50 percent increase, too
  • Average pay supplements over $12,000, up more than $1,300 in one year
  • $3.1 million in extra pay for teachers via supplements funded sustainably through reallocation
  • Just 8.2% of applicants for Opportunity Culture advanced positions were hired
  • High growth for 46 percent of Opportunity Culture schools—a much higher percentage than among typical schools
  • Far fewer schools than typical made low growth (12%)

[Read more…]

Phoenix-area Districts to Use Opportunity Culture

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on October 5, 2016

 

“I know Opportunity Culture is one of the best strategies we can offer.”–Maricopa County Superintendent of Schools Don Covey

Using a $60 million federal grant, Arizona’s Maricopa County Education Service Agency (MCESA) will help at least five small and medium-size Phoenix-area districts and one charter network design and implement Opportunity Culture school models that reach many more students with excellent teachers. Teachers in new, advanced roles will earn substantial pay supplements, which will continue after the grant ends.

[Read more…]

How to Radically Improve Teacher & Principal Preparation

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on June 21, 2016

How can new teachers and principals start their jobs prepared for educational excellence, and how can the schools that hire them know they’re ready to excel? In today’s preparation systems, no one is fully getting what they need—not aspiring teachers and principals, not schools, not students. There is a better way.

In Opportunity Culture schools, Multi-Classroom Leadership creates the potential for aspiring teachers to experience paid, full-time, yearlong residencies led by excellent teachers who lead instructional teams. Similarly, Multi-School Leadership, in which excellent principals lead two or more schools, creates the potential for paid, full-time residencies for aspiring principals—particularly ones who have already led instructional teams as multi-classroom leaders. New school models allow both teacher and principal residents to be paid for a year within existing budgets.

In a new brief from Public Impact, we show how to create such residencies. The teacher residencies are nothing like typical student teaching, in which schools—largely as a courtesy to teacher preparation programs—allow any teacher to supervise aspiring teachers on a part-time basis for a single semester, sometimes rotating among classrooms in unaccountable roles. Similarly, most new principals today lack substantial instructional leadership experience.

Instead, we envision a future in which every aspiring teacher and principal works as a paid, full-time, full-year resident coached by the nation’s best educators, while being screened for potential hiring.

[Read more…]

Where Is Teaching Really Different? New Opportunity Culture Video

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on March 2, 2016

What could you do in an Opportunity Culture? In a new video, teachers in Opportunity Culture schools tell how their roles let them:

—Reach more students with great teaching

—Lead other teachers without leaving teaching—“the best of both worlds”

—Give and get support—“the best part of an Opportunity Culture”

—Personalize learning for more students

—Help students learn far more

—Earn higher pay for the long haul—pay supplements in Opportunity Culture schools range up to 50 percent of average pay

Opportunity Culture schools in eight districts nationwide extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within recurring budgets; in this new video, teachers tell what they love about their new roles.

[Read more…]

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