Below are some of the most recent news articles featuring Public Impact and our work. To read more, searchable by topic, visit our resource database. For more news about our Opportunity Culture initiative, visit the Opportunity Culture website.
New Teaching Model Yields Learning Improvement for Students in Math
Brookings, January 25, 2018, by Michael Hansen and Ben Backes
Since President Trump took office, it seems that most education news has moved away from a key pillar of the Obama-era education platform: teacher quality. Increasing teacher quality, particularly for disadvantaged students, was a principle that surfaced…
Rockets, Robots and ‘Rithmetic earn Dawn McLain a $25,000 Milken Educator Award
Milken Educator Awards, January 25, 2018
Arkansas teacher Dawn McLain engages her 6th grade science and math students any way she can, whether it be with robotics, design modeling or rocketry. And while big science may be helping lift her students’ test scores into the stratosphere, her classes…
Smart List: 50+ Advocacy Organizations Making a Difference
Getting Smart, January 17, 2018
It is important for us all to be making our voices heard in conversations about education policy and funding. Now more than ever, it is our responsibility to be spreading the word about what makes a high-quality learning experience that can prepare…
When Good Teachers Oversee Multiple Classrooms, Does Learning Improve?
EdWeek, January 12, 2018, by Madeline Will
When highly effective teachers are given a hybrid role to lead other teachers, the students on their team perform better in math and, to a lesser extent, reading, according to a new study.
IPS Teacher, Student Mentoring Program Aims to Retain Educators
RTV 6 ABC, April 17, 2017, by Katie Heinz and Victoria T. Davis
Amid the proposal to close three of the district’s seven high schools, IPS is offering a new program to teachers interested in mentoring other educators and students. IPS administrators said the goal of Opportunity…
IPS Rewarding Exceptional Teachers
WTHR NBC, April 11, 2017, by Rich Van Wyk
Here’s an idea to improve schools and teachers. Pay exceptional teachers more money. Give them the responsibility of helping other teachers and keep them from quitting to take better paying jobs. Indianapolis Public schools is trying to do just that and getting…
Interview: Painting the ESSA Canvas with Educator Recruitment and Retention
New America, April 11, 2017, by Melissa Tooley
A recent New America brief, Painting the ESSA Canvas: Four Ideas for States to Think Big on Educator Quality, includes interviews with individuals that offer thoughtful, high-potential approaches to the preparation, recruitment, evaluation, development, and retention of effective educators. The interview below is…
At West Charlotte High, Opportunity Culture Making a Difference for Students and Teachers
EdNC, March 8, 2017, by Erin Burns
When I showed North Carolina’s new state superintendent Mark Johnson around West Charlotte High recently, he saw a vastly different school than when he taught there. Both Johnson and I started our careers in education at West Charlotte in the D…
Indianapolis is Experimenting with a New Kind of Teacher — and It’s Transforming This School
Chalkbeat, February 16, 2017, by Dylan Peers McCoy
Teachers at School 107 are up against a steep tower of challenges: test scores are chronically low, student turnover is high and more than a third of kids are still learning English.
Teacher Leadership Roles Come to Edgecombe County
EdNC, February 14, 2017, by Liz Bell
When teachers get really good, they often stop teaching. After years in the classroom, the desire to move onto something with higher pay, more responsibility, and greater challenge is understandable. When that time comes, Public Impact is hoping to give teachers a meaningful alternative to transitioning…