Public Impact News & Views

By Paola Gilliam Opportunity Culture Fellows are educators with a track record of high-growth student learning who lead more students, fellow teachers, and, as principals or assistant principals, whole schools. This week, we added to the collection of stories and tips from these field leaders focused on helping students learn—and supporting their social-emotional health—no matter what challenges they or their students face. See links below to each educator’s story. They all shared their thoughts on what schools…

By Paola Gilliam Over the past week and a half, Public Impact’s Sharon Kebschull Barrett has interviewed many current and past Opportunity Culture Fellows about their shifts to at-home learning—what’s going well, what worries them, and what tips they have for other Opportunity Culture educators and districts. Use this link to find these stories of how great teachers adapted in the early weeks after school closures—four columns so far, with more to come next week, including some from Opportunity…

By Paola Gilliam With little time to prepare for at-home teaching and learning, Opportunity Culture educators are bravely and innovatively doing what’s best for students. We’re not surprised: Each year, we report the latest Opportunity Culture statistics in our online dashboard. Opportunity Culture—currently composed of 90 percent Title I-eligible schools—continues to expand Multi-Classroom Leadership, growing 50 percent annually, on average, and empowering well-paid multi-classroom leaders to help a wide range of teachers produce higher-growth learning. “Opportunity Culture continues to…

By Sharon Kebschull Barrett  As many schools close and turn to online learning due to COVID-19, multi-classroom leaders (MCLs) can help smooth and lead the way for their teaching teams and students. Students need their teachers’ steadying hand even more when the world feels chaotic and parents face extra stress. Public Impact published initial guidance on Friday, with more to come for schools using Opportunity Culture and those who have not yet used it. See here for…

By Paola Gilliam To help Opportunity Culture multi-classroom leaders, their teaching teams, and other teachers lead student success, Public Impact has added to its suite of instructional excellence support. Our tools and professional development are based on experiences and feedback of top Opportunity Culture educators, as well as hard research. We provide a free, full set of tools on Instructional Leadership and Excellence to help educators master each element—free training, teaching team study guides, educator videos, and other help…

In September, Public Impact convened its Opportunity Culture Fellows for collaboration and learning, featuring sessions on tools to help educators personalize instruction, the science of reading, strategies of multi-classroom leaders and principals for team leadership and leading schoolwide change, and effective advocacy within schools and districts. On the Opportunity Culture blog, we are sharing some of what we learned in a series of blog posts. Check out the recent posts: Multi-classroom leader panel at the…

Districts are increasingly joining with external providers—often charter operators—to implement “restarts” as one way to turn around persistently struggling schools. In a restart, a school continues to serve the same community, while its new provider receives operational autonomy in exchange for a contractual commitment to raise student outcomes. Our ongoing research has documented more than 200 such restarts in 16 states between 2010–11 and 2016–17, as leaders seek alternatives to closing struggling schools or allowing…

In September, Public Impact convened its Opportunity Culture Fellows for a day of collaboration and learning which featured sessions on tools to help educators personalize instruction, the science of reading, multi-classroom leader & principal strategies for team leadership and leading schoolwide change, and effective advocacy within schools and districts. On the Opportunity Culture blog, we are sharing some of what we learned in a series of blog posts. Check out the first two: The Learner…

Read our vision brief: Excellent Teaching for Every Young Child: Opportunity Culture in Early Childhood Education What if far more children ages 0–5 who are in early childhood education and care settings had consistent access to excellent teaching? In these critical developmental years, young children—especially those who have fewer educational and developmental advantages outside of formal settings—need excellent teaching every year to fulfill their potential. When children lack access to high-quality early childhood development, they…

In general, virtual charter schools have had poor outcomes. A 2015 study from CREDO (the Center for Research on Education Outcomes) found that, on average, students enrolled in online charter schools lost 180 days of learning in math and 72 days of learning in reading compared to similar students in brick-and-mortar schools. But virtual schools have the potential to give students access to high-quality instruction regardless of time and place, and to allow students to…

In Better Together: Why Charter School Champions and Parent Advocates Should Partner to Better Support Students with Disabilities, Public Impact issues a call to action for charter champions—including charter associations, city-based education organizations and other reform organizations that see charters as an integral piece of a thriving system of public schools—to form and deepen partnerships with parent advocates to expand access to more quality educational options for students with disabilities. See coverage of this report…

Charter schools frequently confront inadequate facility funding, few affordable and suitable buildings, inadequate facility expertise among charter founders, and gradual expansion of enrollment and grade levels that requires more or new space. Charter school facility incubators provide affordable, short-term space for new and growing charter schools. In a new report, Charter School Facility Incubators: A Case Study of Washington, D.C.’s Innovative Approach to Charter School Facilities, Public Impact takes an in-depth look at the design…

Public Impact announces with pleasure our fifth cohort of Opportunity Culture Fellows. This year’s 15 fellows are Opportunity Culture multi-classroom leaders and principals who have achieved strong results and been leaders in their schools and districts. Fellows provide support to their cohort, take one another’s ideas back to their schools, write columns about their experiences, and speak locally and nationally about their Opportunity Culture roles. Their feedback and leadership are invaluable in helping to improve the Opportunity Culture…

Opportunity Culture schools and educators continue to attract attention…check out these posts from new sites, multi-classroom leader columns, and an exciting award for a multi-classroom leader. Lexington City Schools’ Superintendent on Working with Us to Implement Opportunity Culture (no longer available online): Dr. Anitra Wells, superintendent of Lexington City Schools, discusses the district’s plans to work with Public Impact to implement Opportunity Culture in the 2019-20 school year. Opportunity Culture will extend the reach of…

Opportunity Culture continues to grow: After an initial year at North Little Rock Middle School, the Arkansas Department of Education has expanded its Opportunity Culture pilot to three more districts. The school districts of Forrest City, Lead Hill, and Lincoln are joining the Opportunity Culture initiative—to which the state committed in its Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan—with plans to begin using Opportunity Culture roles in the 2019–20 school year. North Little Rock, now in its second…