ASU News, February 8, 2022. Virtual conference convenes education leaders from around the world to consider a redesign of the classroom. America does not have a shortage of licensed teachers. It does, however, have a shortage of people who want to teach. High pressure. Low pay. Little encouragement. More responsibilities heaped on each year. These […]
More Stories and Tips from Top Educators
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 […]
Annual Dashboard Update: Reaching Ever More Students with Excellent Teaching and Teachers with Excellent Career Opportunities and Support
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 […]
Opportunity Culture News: New Opportunity Culture Site, Multi-Classroom Leaders Share Impact
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 […]
Learning to Lead as a Multi-Classroom Leader
By Hadley Moore In 2015–16, I was a high school English teacher at an elite, private college-prep high school. In 2017-18, I became an assistant principal at an inner-city elementary school. How on earth did that happen? I loved being a high school English teacher. It was my dream job, molding and shaping young people’s […]
15 School Districts Worth Visiting
Getting Smart, November 30, 2018
Leading a public school district is difficult and complicated work. But done well, there is no other job that can change how a community thinks about itself, its children and its future. The following are 15 districts that are changing the trajectory of both education and their communities by working on personalized and competency-based learning.
How Teachers and Leaders Can Promote Personalized Learning
EdWeek, October 31, 2018, by Tom Vander Ark
There are five important attributes of Personalized Learning. When you do these things, learners build agency, a sense of identity as a learner, they begin to own their own learning. These are lifelong dividends.
What Schools Can Learn From Google (Spoiler: It’s Not What You’d Expect)
eSchool News, October 3, 2018, by Talia Milgrom-Elcott and Mo-Yun Lei Fong
One of the American workplaces with the most to learn is, ironically, public schools themselves. Too few schools prioritize employee satisfaction, failing to recognize the link between it and customer value. In other words, they fail to see how fulfilled and supported teachers lead to better student learning and growth.
5 Qualities for Teacher Leaders and Those Who Hire Them
EdNC, June 22, 2018, by Marquitta Mitchell
House Bill 235 outlines credentials that mentor teachers should possess so that they can provide support for new teachers. Those credentials include being an “excellent, experienced, and qualified” teacher who has at least an “accomplished” rating on their NC Teacher Evaluation.
Multi-School Leadership: Tools to Extend Excellent Principals’ Reach
An Opportunity Culture extends the reach of excellent teaching—what about doing the same for excellent schoolwide leadership? Public Impact, which founded the national Opportunity Culture initiative, today releases a set of practical materials on Multi-School Leadership: How to extend the reach of excellent principals by having them lead a small group of schools, for more […]
To Personalize Learning, Change School Staffing
Association of American Educators, June 7, 2018, by Melissa Pratt
Personalized learning is one of the buzziest education buzzwords of the moment. Teachers are urged to individualize instruction, to promote mastery learning, and to help students identify with the material. When it comes down to how a teacher should do that, especially when that teacher works in the typical K-12 school, they are often left on their own.
Teachers Shouldn’t Have to Work Alone – and Now They Don’t Have to
Forbes, May 29, 2018, by Michael Horn
With the rise of online learning in schools—what educators call “blended learning”—what teachers do daily is changing in big and small ways. A central question is what will teaching look like in the future, as online learning can increasingly help students learn knowledge personalized to their specific learning need.