In the most successful Opportunity Culture schools, principals lead a team of multi-classroom leaders—strong teachers who lead small teams and are accountable for outcomes in each grade and/or subject—to ensure instructional excellence schoolwide. Successful principals say this schoolwide “team of leaders” approach is crucial to their students’ success and to providing teachers with deep support throughout the school.

A new set of tools from Public Impact can help other principals emulate their approach.

Leading a team of teacher-leaders who in turn support and guide all of a school’s teachers is a new experience for most principals—a far cry from scrambling to observe, coach, and lead dozens of teachers individually. Because multi-classroom leaders can significantly affect the success of their teaching teams, building their leadership skills fast is crucial. Even the strongest teachers need coaching to excel as team leaders. Principals in any school with empowered teacher-leaders will find the tools helpful.

The new tools are just a start—Public Impact will add more later this year. This initial set of tools covers some of the needs that successful principals highlighted:

• Action Planner for Principals in Opportunity Culture Schools: The planner covers the actions essential for an Opportunity Culture principal throughout the year, breaking the year into four season. Each season has a 1-page checklist that includes linked tools to lead a school of empowered teachers focused on a culture of excellence for all.
• Standing Agendas for Leading an Instructional Team of Leaders: Examples and options for standing agendas for meetings of a schoolwide Instructional Team of Leaders, including the school’s multi-classroom leaders. Agendas cover improving the data-driven instructional leadership of MCLs and professional development of MCLs.
• School Roles and Responsibilities Chart: This tool helps principals clarify and keep track of the school’s multi-classroom leaders and their teams, charting accountability, time spent teaching and leading, and specific responsibilities.
• Organizational Chart Template: This tool creates a visual snapshot of the school’s instructional leadership and teams, simplifying communication of major roles.

 

In addition, for principals who join schools already using Opportunity Culture models:

• Introduction for Principals Joining Opportunity Culture Schools: Slide deck helps principals new to Opportunity Culture schools gain a thorough understanding of Opportunity Culture concepts, the inclusive design process, and the models each school design team chose.
• Checklist for Principals Joining Opportunity Culture Schools: A 1-page review of what principals new to Opportunity Culture need to know about the school’s plans and next steps for successful implementation.

 

Principals who excel in Opportunity Culture models will eventually have opportunities to lead more than one school, teaching other principals how to lead a team of multi-classroom leaders, for more pay.

Because multi-classroom leaders can continue to teach while leading teams, providing extensive support to their teams through co-planning, coaching, co-teaching, and team collaboration, Multi-Classroom Leadership has been the most popular—and highest paid—model that Opportunity Culture schools have used to extend the reach of their excellent teachers to more students within recurring budgets. Team teachers report positive experiences from the support they receive from their MCLs. Early Opportunity Culture schools achieving the largest, fastest gains schoolwide had multi-classroom leaders schoolwide in core subjects.

Many thanks to the Opportunity Culture principals and Fellows who shared their stories and offered their advice, and to Carnegie Corporation of New York for funding the tools’ creation.