Teacher Pay

Guilford County Becomes N.C.’s 5th Opportunity Culture District

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on April 19, 2018

Under Superintendent Sharon Contreras, Guilford County Schools, based in Greensboro, N.C., has joined the national Opportunity Culture initiative to extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within schools’ recurring budgets.

Researchers at the Brookings Institution and American Institutes for Research released a study in January showing the effect Opportunity Culture can have: Teachers who were on average at the 50^th percentile in student learning gains, and who then joined teams led by multi-classroom leaders, produced learning gains equivalent to those of teachers from the 75^th to 85^th percentile in math, and, in six of the seven statistical models, from 66^th to 72^nd percentile in reading.

Opportunity Culture, founded and led by Public Impact of Chapel Hill-Carrboro, N.C., now includes more than 20 districts in nine states, including five in North Carolina. Guilford will be the second of North Carolina’s five largest districts to join. See the Opportunity Culture Dashboard for more details about the initiative, which has grown to more than 225 schools since implementation began in seven schools in 2013.

Contreras was also the superintendent in Syracuse, N.Y., when she took the unprecedented step of becoming the first collective bargaining Opportunity Culture district in 2014–15, only the third district in the initiative’s pilot phase.

“I have seen what works and doesn’t, and will bring the very best of Opportunity Culture to the students and teachers of Guilford County,” Contreras said. “The recent study’s results are deeply encouraging, and we will benefit from learning lessons from the early Opportunity Culture districts to guide our work toward strong outcomes.”

A report produced by a transition team that Contreras convened upon coming to Guilford included a call for timely, job-embedded professional development; opportunities for teachers to lead without leaving the classroom; career pathways that expand the reach of excellent teachers and principals; and competitive teacher and principal salaries to attract and retain top educators. Opportunity Culture schools address all those aims.

Guilford leaders also expect Opportunity Culture to help the district meet its new strategic goals by 2022, which include increasing by 50 percent the number of schools that exceed expected growth, and decreasing the achievement gap between black and Latino students and their white peers by 7 percentage points.

“The Public Impact team is delighted to collaborate with the outstanding community of educators in Guilford County. They are helping to lead the state, not just their own district,” said Bryan Hassel, co-president of Public Impact and co-founder of the Opportunity Culture initiative.

Design teams made up of teachers and administrators at the first nine Opportunity Culture schools are now planning their implementation for the 2018–19 school year: Bessemer Elementary, Cone Elementary, Falkener Elementary, Foust Elementary, Hampton Elementary, Wiley Elementary, Ferndale Middle, Hairston Middle, and Jackson Middle. Guilford plans to add many more schools to the initiative over time.

Students at Hampton Elementary were relocated this week following a tornado on Sunday that damaged the school, so Public Impact will work with its Opportunity Culture design team on a modified schedule this spring.

These nine schools are all Title I schools because of their high percentages of economically disadvantaged students. Guilford schools will use the multi-classroom leader role, as well as the teaching role known as expanded-impact teachers and the paraprofessional role known as reach associates. All these roles will receive substantial pay supplements, up to $20,000 in Title I schools for multi-classroom leaders (MCLs). Supplements vary by how much teachers or MCLs are extending their reach and supporting colleagues.

The North Carolina school districts of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Edgecombe, and Vance counties are also creating Opportunity Cultures. Teams from Guilford schools visited Opportunity Culture schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg before signing on to the initiative. Principals said they thought Opportunity Culture would help them recruit teachers and promote outstanding teachers already in the district by offering teacher-leader roles, and improve teacher working conditions in their schools by offering teachers more support to increase student achievement.

Opportunity Culture by the Numbers: 2017-18 Dashboard Updates

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on March 16, 2018

Quick Stats from the Opportunity Culture Dashboard, updated for 2017-18:

225+ schools committed to Opportunity Culture
1,450+ teachers with advanced roles or on-the-job development
41,000+ students reached by excellent teachers extending their reach
$3.3 million in extra pay for teachers in 2017–18; $10 million since Opportunity Culture was implemented in the first schools five years ago
22 Opportunity Culture sites in 9 states—and growing
Strong educator support: 97% of surveyed multi-classroom leaders (MCLs) and 81% of all school staff involved in OC want Opportunity Culture to continue in their schools
High growth by MCL-led team teachers: Math gains rose from 50^th percentile of teachers to 75^th–85^th, reading from 50^th percentile of teachers to 66^th–72^nd

Public Impact, which created and leads the national Opportunity Culture initiative, updates the Opportunity Culture dashboard annually.

Details:

Schools—Opportunity Culture now has 228 schools committed; OC grew from 7 schools implementing in 2013–14 to 111 schools in 2017–18. Forty-six more schools have begun designing (planning for implementation) for 2018–19, and states and districts have committed to launch Opportunity Culture in an additional 71 schools in the next few years. Schools, cities, and states continue to join Opportunity Culture throughout each year.
Sites—9 states now have a total of 22 Opportunity Culture sites covering a range of urban, suburban, and rural schools.
Students—More than 41,000 students were reached by one or more Opportunity Culture teachers. Nothing matters more for students than getting excellent teaching consistently: Excellent teachers help students learn more, and, as multi-classroom leaders, they can help other teachers produce higher-growth student learning, too. Research also says that teachers producing high growth develop students’ higher-order thinking skills.
Teaching Roles—There were 331 teachers in advanced roles and 1,135 teachers receiving on-the-job development on teacher-led teams. Advanced Opportunity Culture roles are reserved for teachers with a track record of high-growth student learning. Team teacher roles are held by teachers with a typical range of prior effectiveness. Schools designing Opportunity Culture before 2017–18 used a variety of roles to extend teachers’ reach. Schools designing in 2017–18 and after will all use Multi-Classroom Leadership, embedding other roles within MCLs’ small teams.
Teacher Surveys—In anonymous surveys, 97 percent of multi-classroom leaders and 81 percent of all school staff involved in OC want Opportunity Culture to continue in their schools. 94 percent of MCLs also reported a positive impact on staff collaboration and student achievement; 96 percent agreed that they have new leadership opportunities; and 95 percent agreed they have better pay opportunities and the chance to reach more students. And 96 percent of MCLs and 89 percent of all OC teachers agree that they receive feedback that can help them improve teaching.
Pay—$3.3 million was reallocated to higher teacher pay in 2017–18; $10 million has been reallocated since OC began in 2013. The highest pay supplement was $23,000 (for MCLs). The average MCL supplement was $12,247, or 21 percent of the average teacher salary in the U.S. OC supplements for all teachers ranged from $1,500 to $23,000.
Student Results—A study from the American Institutes for Research and the Brookings Institution showed that students in classrooms of team teachers led by MCLs showed sizeable academic gains. The team teachers in the study were, on average, at the 50^th percentile in the student learning gains they produced before joining a team led by an MCL. After joining the teams, they produced learning gains equivalent to those of teachers in the top quartile in math and nearly that in reading.

See the dashboard for more details.

Public Impact analyzes the dashboard results so we can continually improve Opportunity Culture materials and our work with schools and districts. Our goals are to reach all students with excellent teaching and all teachers with outstanding career opportunities and support.

“We are grateful to the hundreds of teachers, principals, and district staff nationally who have stepped out of their comfort zones to achieve more for students through Opportunity Culture,” said Emily Ayscue Hassel, co-founder of the Opportunity Culture initiative and Public Impact co-president. “Public Impact treasures both the feedback from these educators and the hard data to make Opportunity Culture even better for people as it grows.”

How Does an Opportunity Culture Work?

In each Opportunity Culture school, a team of teachers and administrators adopts new roles to reach more students with teachers who have produced high-growth student learning. Multi-classroom leaders lead a small teaching team, providing guidance and frequent on-the-job coaching while continuing to teach, often by leading small-group instruction. Accountable for the results of all students in the team, they also earn supplements averaging 20 percent (and up to 50 percent) of teacher pay, within the regular school budget. The schools redesign schedules to provide additional school-day time for teacher planning, coaching, and collaboration.

Learn more at OpportunityCulture.org; hear from Opportunity Culture educators in teacher-written columns and videos.

We welcome your questions and feedback; contact us here.

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

written by Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel on 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 Center, the answer is yes — a lot more. Authors Ben Backes of American Institutes for Research and Michael Hansen of the Brookings Institution found that students of teachers who receive these types of supports from multi-classroom leaders in Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture initiative showed sizable, statistically significant academic gains.

[Read more…]

Beyoncé and Teacher Pay: TEDx Talk Tells All!

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on 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 educators to fill every U.S. classroom

Jordan-Thomas is spreading the word about how Ranson is doing things differently—getting Beyoncé-level teaching in front of all 937 Ranson students.

By creating highly paid positions—within her school’s regular budget—for Opportunity Culture multi-classroom leaders, and having those excellent educators reach more students, Ranson is making teaching an appealing, sustainable, and affordable profession, even in a high-poverty environment, where schools often go begging for teachers.

Multi-classroom leaders (MCLs) at Ranson, who lead teams of up to five teachers, provide intensive, on-the-job coaching, planning, and data analysis leadership to a team of teachers while continuing to teach students, too. MCLs’ daily coaching, lesson planning, time for team teachers to practice delivering lessons, data analysis, and small-group instruction give teachers just the sort of support they crave.

Bobby Miles got to keep teaching students while leading a team of all Ranson science teachers—with powerful student outcomes from a powerful role model.

“Our staff, they’re happier,” Jordan-Thomas says. “There’s been some conversation around whether it’s fair to pay some teachers more than others, but our teachers truly value the support of their MCL. No longer are teachers staying up late at night trying to figure out what they’re teaching the next day—they have the support of their MCL. We are making teaching more sustainable through improving work-life balance.”

And with that support, “our teachers are getting better faster. They are receiving feedback every single week from a Beyoncé educator. And when our teachers get better, our kids get better.”

At a school like Ranson, where 65 percent of students come in below grade level, student growth since Opportunity Culture and the MCL model went schoolwide in 2014–15 has been dramatic. Ranson had the highest student growth among Title I district schools in the state and was in the state’s top 1 percent overall for growth. Even though it’s difficult in North Carolina’s value-added EVAAS system to post growth that high year after year, Ranson again posted huge gains the following year. After science MCL Bobby Miles—highlighted in Jordan-Thomas’s talk—moved from being just the sixth-grade MCL to MCL science schoolwide, Ranson showed the highest science growth of any middle school in the district.

Ranson didn’t stop with its multi-classroom leadership. By adding blended learning—in which great teachers take on more students, but work with only a portion of them at a time while others learn in teacher-crafted online programs—students get more personalized instruction, meeting them at their learning level and helping them to grow, fast.

Molly Whelan uses her skill as a teacher and expertise in blended learning to lead a team of math teachers, while continuing to work directly with students.

“Most importantly, our kids are learning,” Jordan-Thomas says. “We have been ranked number 2 in the district for our growth in language arts and number 3 for our growth in science [among all district schools]. Opportunity Culture is making a difference.”

For this principal, nothing matters more than getting great teaching and powerful relationships with adult role models to every student in her building—and across the nation.

“I believe teaching is one of the most patriotic acts in this country,” Jordan-Thomas says. “Every single day, parents send their greatest gift to a teacher. The fate of this country rests on the shoulders of our teachers. The leaders of tomorrow are sitting in classrooms today with our teachers. If we do not change the way we pay our teachers, because their pay does not reflect this impact, more teachers will continue to leave the profession, because they are tired of working two or three jobs just to provide for their family. Or even worse, those who have the potential to be great teachers…won’t even consider the profession at all. …

“Every student, everywhere, every day, deserves access to a great teacher. And at Ranson IB, that is not a slogan, it is a reality,” Jordan-Thomas concludes.

Opportunity Culture + Summit Learning: North Little Rock Pilots Statewide Plan

written by Sharon Kebschull Barrett on 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 Public Schools, located in California, created the platform to help students set and track goals at their own pace.

By merging the principles of an Opportunity Culture with Summit’s nationally acclaimed blended-learning model, North Little Rock Middle School will ensure that its 1,800 students benefit from a team-based and supportive school climate, Principal Lee Tackett said.

“The Summit Learning Platform can make personalization easier for Opportunity Culture multi-classroom leaders and teams as they pursue high-growth learning for every student,” said Bryan C. Hassel, co-director of Public Impact, which leads Opportunity Culture.

With North Little Rock Middle, the national Opportunity Culture initiative—which extends the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within recurring budgets—now includes about 20 sites in eight states. State education officials in Arkansas plan to expand to more schools around the state in the 2018–19 school year.

North Little Rock Middle will begin with multi-classroom leaders in sixth grade, with plans to expand to all middle school grades the following year. Multi-classroom leaders continue to teach while leading a team, coaching, co-teaching, co-planning, and collaborating with their team teachers to deliver high-standards, personalized instruction, while taking accountability for the learning outcomes of all the students the team serves.

District and school leaders are now working with Public Impact to strengthen and scale up their initial design. As in other Opportunity Culture districts, a school design team that includes teachers will reallocate each school’s budget to fund pay supplements permanently, in contrast to temporarily grant-funded programs.

The middle school, the only one in the 13-school district, has about 100 teachers. Of its 1,800 students, about 61 percent are black, 29 percent white, and 7 percent Hispanic, with approximately 71 percent eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

In this large school, the sixth grade functions essentially as its own campus. Its planned use of MCL-led teams is intended to create a grade-wide Opportunity Culture—placing all core content teachers on MCL teams. Most of the high-growth, high-poverty Opportunity Culture schools nationally cover core subjects schoolwide, and multi-classroom leaders work as a team to help each other lead.

The clearest comparative data on Opportunity Culture schools come from North Carolina. Fifty-nine percent of Opportunity Culture schools in North Carolina in 2015–16 exceeded student growth expectations, more than double the percentage of N.C. schools overall at just 28 percent, according to school performance data from the state. Results are similar for high-poverty schools, which make up about two-thirds of the Opportunity Culture schools in North Carolina.

The Summit Learning Platform offers a customizable, teacher-developed curriculum aligned with state standards. Students progress at their own pace on it, with help from teachers and a mentor. Daily data show teachers, as well as students and parents, each student’s progress every day, so they can personalize instruction to each student’s needs. The Arkansas Public School Resource Center (APSRC) introduced the platform to Arkansas educators and will support the implementation of it in 14 pilot schools across the state.

Guilford County Becomes N.C.’s 5th Opportunity Culture District

Opportunity Culture by the Numbers: 2017-18 Dashboard Updates

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

Beyoncé and Teacher Pay: TEDx Talk Tells All!

Opportunity Culture + Summit Learning: North Little Rock Pilots Statewide Plan

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