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Public Impact News & Views

Who We Are
Public Impact News & Views

Welcome to our blog, offering news and views from the Public Impact team. Questions or concerns? Contact editor Sharon Kebschull Barrett.

Our most recent blog posts are below. For more, searchable by topic, visit our resource database. To read more posts about our Opportunity Culture initiative, go here.

Innovative Staffing to Personalize Learning: School Profiles

March 14, 2018
How can schools begin to address all their students’ individual learning needs? Blended learning is increasingly part of the answer schools consider—but what about a broader rethinking of how schools are organized and staffed? At Public Impact, we’ve been working with the Clayton Christensen Institute to take a close look at eight schools/school networks around the country using innovative staffing models to personalize learning—district, charter, and private schools. We’ve just published the first of two sets …
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Finding Inspiration Again Through Teacher Leadership

March 5, 2018
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 …
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Analysis: New Study Finds Huge Student Learning Gains in Schools Where Teachers Mentor Their Colleagues as Multi-Classroom Leaders

February 14, 2018
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 …
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When Teachers Leave Midyear, Instructional Teacher-Leadership Keeps Classes Strong

February 13, 2018
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 …
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Opportunity Culture: In the News, On the Radio–and a Milken Award!

January 26, 2018
Multi-classroom leaders have been in the spotlight this week! In the News: The recent release of a study by the American Institutes for Research and the Brookings Institution highlights the power of multi-classroom leaders (MCLs). The team teachers studied, who were now on teams led by MCLs, were, on average, at the 50th percentile in the student learning gains they produced before joining an MCL team. After joining the teams, they produced learning gains equivalent to those of teachers from …
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New Research on Opportunity Culture: Multi-Classroom Leaders’ Teams Produce Significant Learning Gains

January 18, 2018
This column first appeared in Education Next on January 17, 2018. What if every student actually could have an excellent teacher? According to a new study released through the CALDER Center, it might be possible. Study authors Ben Backes of American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Michael Hansen of the Brookings Institution found that students in classrooms of team teachers led by Opportunity Culture “multi-classroom leaders” showed sizeable, statistically significant academic gains. There’s interesting fine print, so read on. Multi-classroom leaders lead …
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Brookings-AIR Study Finds Large Academic Gains in Opportunity Culture

January 11, 2018
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. 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 …
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Beyoncé and Teacher Pay: TEDx Talk Tells All!

December 7, 2017
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 …
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Days in the Life: Video, Vignette Show the Work of a Successful Multi-Classroom Leader

November 30, 2017
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 …
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Opportunity Culture Voices: From Action Plan to Teacher of the Year — in One Year

November 14, 2017
This column is by Stacie Bunn and was published on EdNC.org, November 9, 2017 Editor’s Note: Stacie Bunn is an Opportunity Culture Fellow. Learn more about the Opportunity Culture initiative here. In 2012, after 15 years of classroom experience and a year as an instructional coach, I became the multi-classroom leader (MCL) for science at Thomasboro Academy in Charlotte, N.C. I led a team of eight new and veteran teachers, co-teaching, coaching, modeling, co-planning, and leading …
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Opportunity Culture + Summit Learning: North Little Rock Pilots Statewide Plan

July 11, 2017
To kick off a statewide Arkansas initiative to reach all students with excellent teaching, North Little Rock Middle School will begin creating an Opportunity Culture for teachers and students this fall, using teams led by multi-classroom leaders—experienced, excellent teachers who are paid more to lead a team, and are held accountable for student outcomes, teacher support, and team success. Additionally, the North Little Rock district will use the Summit Learning Platform to personalize student learning. Summit …
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Opportunity Culture Voices: How My West Texas School Elevated Struggling Young Readers (and Their Teachers)

June 21, 2017
For years, my school, Washington Elementary in Big Spring, Texas, struggled to meet all our students’ literacy needs. We group students in tiers, as in the “Response to Intervention” model, but each year we were still left with extremely large groups in Tier II and Tier III — struggling students and chronically struggling students. Each year, we tried to reinvent the wheel to increase our student success, but to no avail — until last year. Most …
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Advanced Teaching Roles: Guideposts for Excellence at Scale

June 13, 2017
For the growing number of Opportunity Culture schools—and schools using accountable teacher leadership and other advanced teaching roles—Public Impact provides a new suite of tools. They guide districts and schools to achieve excellence in teaching and learning with these roles, like the very best Opportunity Culture schools nationally. The tools are based on four years of data that illuminate what school designs and implementation actions work, and what do not, to achieve strong student learning and …
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How to Lead and Achieve Instructional Excellence

June 6, 2017
Opportunity Culture schools nationally achieve far more schoolwide high growth than comparable schools, on average. How have teachers who reach more students than is typical—directly or by leading teams—gotten that high growth? They pursue instructional excellence fast and well. In new, free online help from Public Impact, we share the critical elements of great teaching and great team leadership. Free of jargon so any school, anywhere can use them, and backed up by experts and research, …
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Opportunity Culture Voices: When Students Own Their Academic Results, They Transform Their Schools

May 16, 2017
When you’re not sure where to start, ask your students! Well, not always, but when I came to Charlotte, North Carolina’s James Martin Middle School as a multi-classroom leader in 2014, I felt overwhelmed. I started as the MCL for sixth grade, where for the previous three years the students had been experiencing negative learning growth — falling further and further behind. By my second year, my teaching team’s students exceeded the state’s expected growth targets …
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