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Opportunity Culture® Educator Roles

Schools transform roles, pay, budget usage, and schedules for high-growth student learning while increasing teacher collaboration, teamwork, and small-group teaching and tutoring.

ROLES

Multi-Classroom Leader™ Role

Team Reach Teacher™ Role

Reach Associate™ Role

Teacher Resident Role

Multi-School Leader™ Role

Opportunity Culture® Director

Multi-Classroom Leader™ Role

In this role, “MCL™” educators form the cornerstone of Opportunity Culture® implementation.

They are teachers with records of high-growth student learning who lead a small teaching team in lesson planning, data analysis, instructional changes, and the creation of a tutoring culture, for higher pay. They observe and coach team teachers, co-teach with them, and model instruction, while continuing to teach some portion of the time.

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They have protected time to work intensively with a small teaching team (typically 4 to 6 teachers).

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They don’t hold back on guiding teachers. In really high-growth schools using this model, they write the lessons, or heavily edit them, and they provide similar guidance on teaching methods.

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They continue to teach students directly in a class of their own and/or by co-teaching, modeling instruction in other classrooms, and leading small groups. They may be “full release”—meaning they have no classroom of record, so they can lead a slightly larger team—or “partial release,” in which they still lead their own classroom for part of the day, but have the support of advanced paraprofessionals to leave the classroom to lead the team.

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They have “skin in the game”—they are accountable for results of all the students on the team.

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They earn an extra 20 percent, on average—and some earn far more. 

In 2023, six districts in a North Carolina cohort began a test of the Remotely Located Multi-Classroom Leader™ role, in which a teacher with a record of high-growth student learning and leadership competencies chooses to lead some, or potentially all, team members located in schools where the team leader does not work in person. This person may be based in a different school in the same district, in another district, or from home or another location. We learned much from a prior test of this concept; check out the video below.

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The videos below present real-world examples of the this role:

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Check out these resources for more about the this role:

[This] is literally like my dream job.

—K-8 Team Leader

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Team Reach Teacher™/Master Team Reach Teacher™ Role

More than half of teaching teams in schools using these models include teachers in varying roles in which they extend their reach to more students.

In the Team Reach Teacher™ role, educators directly teach more students than usual—but typically without raising instructional group sizes—for higher pay. Educators in the Master Team Reach Teacher™ role have a track record of high-growth student learning and assist with leading a larger team. They reach significantly more students and may also coach one or more other teachers on the team.

Years of data analysis indicate that schools with more than one Team Reach Teacher™ role per team are more likely to produce high-growth student learning schoolwide than schools that restrict this role.

Like all teachers on these teaching teams, educators in these roles receive the team leader’s powerful, ongoing, on-the-job support and guidance, and they have the support of advanced paraprofessionals (see below). In collaboration with their team, they support the building of a tutoring culture with increased small-group tutoring and teaching time.

Watch

Watch the video below to see these educators in action:

[This role] gave me the opportunity to learn and to grow.

—High School Team Reach Teacher™ Educator

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Reach Associate™ Role

Paraprofessionals can serve in the advanced Reach Associate™ role, supporting one or more teaching teams by providing key support and release time to the team leader and teachers, with a focus on small-group tutoring.

These paraprofessionals play a variety of roles, but the core role is to provide instructional support, with the strong guidance and coaching of the team leader. Typically, they will tutor small groups or individuals, as the leader and team determine, in a learning lab or in a teacher’s classroom. While directly working with students as much as possible, they collaborate with the team when schedules allow on planning and student data analysis, to strengthen their support in team efforts to build and lead a tutoring culture.

Watch

The videos below illustrate the importance of this role:

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Read (and listen!) to more about this role:

It was what I needed to be a part of — the best decision I ever made in my life.

—High School Reach Associate™ Paraprofessional

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Teacher and Principal Resident Role

Aspiring teachers serve as yearlong, paid teacher residents on teaching teams, supporting teams as the Reach Associate™ role does, as well as co-teaching, learning student data analysis, and receiving observations and feedback from the team leader to learn the full teaching role.

Similarly, the Multi-School Leadership™ model, in which excellent principals lead two or more schools, creates the potential for paid, full-time residencies for aspiring principals—particularly ones who have already led instructional teams in the Multi-Classroom Leader™ role.

Watch

See examples below of teacher residents working in schools using Opportunity Culture® models:

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For more about the resident role, check out these resources:

It’s a great opportunity. You learn so much and you also have the whole year long.

—Elementary Teacher Resident

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Multi-School Leader™ Role

Excellent principals with a record of high-growth student learning may serve in the Multi-School Leader™ role, leading a small group of two to eight related or closely located schools for more pay, funded within the budgets of their schools. They lead a team of their schools’ principals, guiding each in key elements of instructional and administrative leadership; observe and give feedback; and lead performance data analysis and problem-solving throughout the multi-school team. They are accountable for student learning, teacher satisfaction, and other outcomes in all schools led.

They would typically continue to directly lead at least one school—in some cases two—acting as its senior instructional leader, with the help of an instructional assistant principal or principal resident. They rotate working in person in the schools they lead, connecting personally with teachers, staff, and families. Watch for more details as districts begin to use this role!

District Role: Opportunity Culture® Director

Most sites name a director to lead their district’s/CMO’s effort to extend the reach of excellent teachers, principals, and their teams to all students, to support schools in implementing well. The Opportunity Culture® director:

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serves as the content expert for the district about the models and manages the design process for the district design team and school design teams, ensuring alignment;

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collaborates closely with district leadership and all teams using these models to organize and disseminate information about implementation;

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develops the leadership of educators in Opportunity Culture® roles; and

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contributes and monitors data about the quality and outcomes of implementation toward the district’s goals, using our online portal.

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