District of the Year
A district with strong use of—and strong support for—Opportunity Culture® models was named district of the year. Congratulations to Ector County ISD in Odessa, Texas! K–12 Dive reported that the percentage of high school seniors considered prepared for postsecondary success jumped from 56% to 88% between 2019 and 2024. And the percentage of 5-year-olds deemed ready for kindergarten in 2019 was 36%, rising to 57% by 2024. And during those years, the district’s teacher turnover rate dropped from 18% to 1%.
Read more: Congratulating K-12 Dive District of the Year, Ector County ISD
Going Big in North Carolina!
Did you know that all of the five largest school districts in North Carolina use Opportunity Culture® strategic staffing models? With 10 other North Carolina school systems, these districts—Wake, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Guilford, Winston-Salem-Forsyth, and Cumberland—are also leading the first wave of schools nationally to receive Certified Opportunity Culture School™ status. At 147 certified schools, CMS has the most schools of any district in the country earning certification for 2023–24. The nation’s 16th-largest district, CMS was the first to implement these models in 2013.
Read more: N.C. Districts—Including 5 Largest—Lead Nation in New Certification
Certifying Schools Using Opportunity Culture® Models
Public Impact® announced with pleasure this fall that 366 schools in 28 districts in eight states were awarded the new “Certified Opportunity Culture School™, Provisional Level, 2023–24” designation. Showing their commitment to reaching all students with excellent teaching, consistently, and all educators with excellent, paid career opportunities, these schools can use their certified status to attract applicants looking for support and career paths, and reassure parents, their community, state, and funders that they are using models that increase student learning.
Certification levels convey strength of implementation in key areas, including selectivity of Opportunity Culture® roles, student access to these roles’ team-based instruction, small-group, high-dosage tutoring, and financial sustainability of plans.
Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia all had newly certified schools. Now, schools are in the process of getting 2024–25 certification, with many working to move beyond the provisional level.
Read more: 366 Schools in 8 States Receive Certified Status
The All-New Opportunity Culture® Portal
We launched a new Opportunity Culture® portal, proving to be a popular platform for Opportunity Culture® educators! This affordable online platform supports all school design and professional learning. It guides schools through staffing design and the certification process, and how to monitor, analyze, and improve their Opportunity Culture® implementation at a low cost, using national data about what works and an included basic staff survey option. It includes guidance for teaching teams on small-group tutoring for all students, professional learning for educator and site director roles, and on-demand school design guidance.
Watch demo: Your New Tool to Reach All Students: The Opportunity Culture® portal
Creating a Tutoring Culture
We continued to champion the power of high-dosage tutoring, for all students, with the staff schools already have—entirely doable with Multi-Classroom Leader® teams. We published an op-ed in Education NC about creating a tutoring culture, and focused on the power of small-group tutoring in Winchester Public Schools in Virginia through several audio pieces.
Read more: New on EdNC.org from Public Impact: Creating a Tutoring Culture
Read more: Leading in Growth and Small Groups: Lessons From Winchester
Feed Your Brain: Opportunity Culture® Webinars
We hosted several webinars for educators, with Opportunity Culture® educators as panelists, including co-hosting one with SchoolMint, creator of the SchoolMint Grow teacher coaching platform.
Watch webinars:
Get Your Teaching Team Superpower: Cohesive Lesson Planning
- Session 1: Planning with a Scripted Curriculum—Why and How?
- Session 2: Baking Up Lesson Plans from Scratch
Every Educator Needs a Coach: Three Keys to Get There
From Reflection to Planning to Launch: A 3-Part Series on How Educators Prep for a New Year
Prep for the Testing Homestretch: Using Data-Driven Goals
On to the Second Opportunity Culture® Decade!
We closed out our yearlong celebration of 10 years of the Opportunity Culture® initiative: It’s exciting to see how many students Opportunity Culture® educators have reached, how much more educators have been paid, and how the model leads to improved student achievement!
Read more:
Because Kids Can’t Wait: Follow 5 Crucial Strategic Staffing Principles
Because Kids Can’t Wait: Use Proven Teaching Teams Throughout Schools and Districts
Because Kids Can’t Wait: Expanding Access to Opportunity Culture® Design
Opportunity Culture® in the News
And the Opportunity Culture® initiative continued to garner attention. Check these out to learn more—and then, go enjoy your holidays! We’ll see you back here in 2025, with renewed energy for reaching more students with excellent results and more teachers with excellent careers.
- TN SCORE Case Studies Highlight Strong Results for Four Districts Using Opportunity Culture Models
- MISD welcomes visitors to highlight strategic staffing initiative
- Educators get first-hand look at ECISD Opportunity Culture
- Fort Worth ISD needs to improve. Could this plan help teachers step up their game?
- How Team-Based Teaching Can Support Student Learning and Reduce Teacher Burnout
- Meet the CMS school ‘making dreams come true’ — and surging up NC’s rating system
- Which School Districts Do the Best Job of Teaching Kids to Read?
- Addressing pandemic staffing cuts: A strategic approach
- WS/FCS Celebrates Improvements in 2023-24 State Data
- 189 Innovative School Leaders: Teacher Staffing, AI, Mental Health Top Ed
- Showing Appreciation for Teachers by Making Their Jobs Even More Rewarding