Public Impact News & Views

“When I was asked to be on my school’s design team for a new initiative, I had no idea what I was getting into. I heard it would help build relationships with students and the community, and improve learning, so I thought, ‘Cool. I’m in. That is right up my alley.’ But this wasn’t any new initiative: Our school was about to be part of something huge that would affect not only the community and…

This post by Whitaker Brown, an eighth-grade science teacher at Ranson IB Middle School in Charlotte, N.C., first appeared on the Project L.I.F.T. website. See here to learn how to apply in February for Opportunity Culture positions in the Project L.I.F.T. zone of schools. Long nights. Physically and emotionally draining days. Moments feeling that I was just barely keeping my head above water. All of these were common occurrences during my (and I have no…

This post by Nicole Hardy, a kindergarten teacher at Ashley Park Pre-K–8 Elementary School in Charlotte, N.C., first appeared on the Project L.I.F.T. website. See here to learn how to apply in February for Opportunity Culture positions in the Project L.I.F.T. zone of schools. This is my first year in Project L.I.F.T., and my first year of having the support and guidance from an MCL. I can honestly say that I feel like I have…

Teachers using blended learning need guidance to help students achieve high-growth learning consistently. Teacher-leaders and their teams need time to collaborate and learn together on the job. Students need access to personalized instruction that catalyzes consistently high growth and expands their thinking. How can schools achieve all of these goals? Combine blended learning with teacher leadership. Two new models from Public Impact explain how elementary and secondary schools can combine Time-Technology Swaps and Multi-Classroom Leadership—…

Teachers using blended learning need guidance to help students achieve high-growth learning consistently. Teacher-leaders and their teams need time to collaborate and learn together on the job. Students need access to personalized instruction that catalyzes consistently high growth and expands their thinking. How can schools achieve all of these goals? Combine blended learning with teacher leadership. Two new models from Public Impact explain how elementary and secondary schools can combine Time-Technology Swaps and Multi-Classroom Leadership—…

“ ‘One-teacher-one-classroom’ is a phrase you hear a lot in education these days: For the past 11 years, that described me. I taught on my own in self-contained third- and fifth-grade classrooms, and I loved my job. But I had enough leadership opportunities, such as mentoring, working with student teachers, and leading professional development, to develop a passion for working with teachers. “Now, being an Opportunity Culture multi-classroom leader—which feeds my new passion of leading…

Multi-Classroom Leader Bobby Miles, center, spoke on the Teach Strong panel with Mary Cathryn Ricker of the American Federation of Teachers and former Rep. George Miller of California. (Photo by Lisette Partelow) Last week, Multi-Classroom Leader Bobby Miles spoke at the Teach Strong launch, part of a panel moderated by Amanda Ripley, author of the New York Times bestseller The Smartest Kids in the World, and including former Rep. George Miller…

How could a large number of well-paid teacher-leader roles emerge in a unionized district? This question is at the top of the list for many superintendents. Syracuse, N.Y., educators have some advice, captured in a new three-page vignette, How One Union-District Partnership Launched an Opportunity Culture. Syracuse union and district leaders discuss their experiences and lessons they learned about working together for a successful launch. In late 2013, the Syracuse City School District…

District leaders love the thought of “teacher leadership” that might attract and retain teachers—especially great ones—and close student learning gaps at a time of rising teacher vacancies. But too often, teacher-leader roles fail to produce the full impact district leaders intend. They rarely dramatically improve student learning or teacher effectiveness. What are the usual pitfalls? How can districts avoid them? The Whole Package: 12 Factors of High-Impact Teacher-Leader Roles, a two-page brief from Public Impact,…

“I’m practically a Syracuse City Schools lifetime member—from student, to teacher, to coach, then nearly into administration—but with a happy detour. I got to return to the classroom in a new position of multi-classroom leader. As the MCL, I lead a team of teachers while continuing to teach—the sweet spot for this point in my career.

But at a school new to me, in a new leadership…

When Louisiana and Tennessee wanted to focus on their lowest-performing schools, they created statewide turnaround districts, which pull individual schools under state control. As detailed in The Achievement School District: Lessons from Tennessee, written by Public Impact for New Schools for New Orleans, Tennessee’s Achievement School District (ASD), though modeled on Louisiana’s Recovery School District, has forged its own path and offers useful insights for other states. After…

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“Opportunity Culture is not a program, it’s a culture change.”

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Last week, Public Impact convened a select group of 90 teachers, principals, district administrators, and national education organization leaders in Chapel Hill, N.C., to plan the future of Opportunity Culture (OC). The goal: Learn from pioneering OC districts and teachers and plan ahead to improve…

The Indianapolis school board and teachers union recently became the first in the country to include Opportunity Culture roles in their new contract, offering pay supplements of up to $18,300—35 percent of the district’s average salary. That comes on top of a major base pay raise—the first in five years—for teachers across the board. Those pay decisions mean that in 2016–17, for example, a 16-year teacher will be able to earn $77,700 by taking on the…

In two reports Public Impact has worked on, we look at charter schools’ effects, from a close-up of one school in Nashville to an entire district in New Orleans. We consider the 10 years of charters since Hurricane Katrina in Ten Years in New Orleans: Public School Resurgence and the Path Ahead, and the gradual conversion option in Expanding District Capacity to Turn Around Failing Schools: An Evaluation of the…