By Erin Burns, first published by EdNC, March 8, 2017
When I showed North Carolina’s new state superintendent Mark Johnson around West Charlotte High recently, he saw a vastly different school than when he taught there. Both Johnson and I started our careers in education at West Charlotte in the D building science wing: Johnson taught earth science from 2006 to 2008, and I taught biology in 2009. As we walked, we laughed about our struggles as clueless first-year teachers. Calling the security guard and kicking out a student or two was a part of our daily classroom management routine (note: not a highly effective strategy).
Once one of the top schools in the country and a model for integration with a diverse student body, the West Charlotte we taught in was a high-poverty, highly segregated school where 75 percent of students were on free/reduced-price lunch and 85 percent of students were African-American.
Surrounded by some colleagues who lacked urgency about their students’ educations and because I received little support, I left West Charlotte after a year. I led a highly effective team at a neighboring school while earning my master’s in educational leadership. I wanted to return to West Charlotte if I could lead and create change there for more students. The new Project LIFT initiative gave me that chance using the concept of an Opportunity Culture®.
Opportunity Culture® schools work to extend the reach of great teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within regular budgets (not temporary grants). In my new role as a multi-classroom leader (MCL), I continued to work with students while also leading a team of adults. I coach my team teachers, teach with them, pull out students to work one-on-one, lead data meetings, or do anything else necessary to help my teachers and students succeed. I take formal accountability for the results of all biology students. Now is my chance to help change the things that made me flee the first time.