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Beverley Tyndall

Restart redux? Guilford leaders taking patient approach to low-performing schools

May 26, 2023

From Greensboro News & Record, by Jessie Pounds, May 26, 2023

The biggest thing they are trying to evaluate is how well a strategy called “Opportunity Culture” is working in improving academic performance at the restart schools. By paying extra to recruit effective teachers to lead and coach their peers, or take on additional students, the schools think they can make progress on recruiting and retaining great educators in the face of what they say is a shortage of experienced instructors.

The idea for Opportunity Culture came from Public Impact, a Chapel-Hill based company whose leaders designed and created the strategy in 2009. The cornerstone of that strategy, and the part that Oakley thinks is likely doing the most good, is the multi-classroom leader position.

Read the full article here.

Collaboration breeds success through a culture of opportunity and innovation in Baltimore City Public Schools

May 20, 2023

The AFRO, by Kyair Butts, May 20, 2023

Imagine a world where the best of the best shared their insights with others without ego, red tape or hoops to jump through. Think of how you feel when you successfully collaborate on a project, idea or task. The results at completion usually far exceed what one can do alone. 

There is power when excellence is coached. Education should be shared among all who are willing to participate in the exchange—and this is where Baltimore City Public Schools gets it right, with the Opportunity Culture initiative. 

Opportunity Culture is truly an innovative and immersive experience for educators to share their excellence and coach others all while moving students in meaningful ways. The program began in 2019 with only three locations. At the end of 2021, City Schools boasted 20 Opportunity Culture sites.

Read the full article here.

Partial-Release Multi-Classroom Leader Role

May 18, 2023

In Opportunity Culture schools, teacher-leaders in the Multi-Classroom Leader, or MCL, role, may be “partial release” or “full release.” Partial-release MCLs have their own classroom of record and teach for part of the day but have release time to leave their classroom to work with their team teachers.

The Case for Differentiated Staffing in the Classroom 

May 5, 2023

From WestEd, May 1, 2023 by Kate Wright and Gretchen Weber

Differentiated staffing involves students in a classroom having multiple educators working with them in a range of capacities based on those educators’ strengths and skills. It has shown promise for reducing the burden on individual teachers, retaining teachers, and supporting new teachers, as well as advancing student learning. In this blog post, the third in the Money Matters: Conversations About Teacher Compensation Series, Kate Wright and Gretchen Weber discuss the model, its benefits, and possible barriers to implementation.

Read the full post, which highlights Opportunity Culture models as one example, here.

#11. Public Impact® Module Helps Schools Create a Tutoring Culture

April 11, 2023

In this podcast, former Multi-Classroom Leader Okema Owens Simpson provides an overview of the Multi-Classroom Leader role and the power of small-group, in-school tutoring through MCL teams, as a preview for watching the module and understanding our SIMPLE framework for building a tutoring culture.

Janie Martin on Being a Reach Associate

April 5, 2023

Janie Martin, a reach associate (RA) at Petree Elementary School in Winston-Salem, N.C. describes why she likes her Opportunity Culture role.

Teacher Apprenticeships Are Booming in Wake of Shortages. Here’s What You Need to Know

March 17, 2023

From Education Week, March 17, 2023, by Madeline Will

The number of states with federally registered apprenticeship programs for teachers has doubled in just six months, as policymakers and school district leaders look to the model as a promising solution to teacher pipeline challenges.

An apprenticeship, or residency, program allows prospective teachers to undergo training through a teacher preparation program while they work in schools and earn a paycheck. Registering such a program with the U.S. Department of Labor opens up federal funding to pay for tuition assistance, wages, and other supportive services, such as textbooks and child care assistance. …

The Midland school district has already partnered with the University of Texas of the Permian Basin to run a residency program that is associated with the Opportunity Culture model, which puts strong teachers in charge of more students. Teachers who have demonstrated effectiveness with student learning are named “multi-classroom leaders,” meaning they lead a teaching team, provide on-the-job coaching to their teachers, and still do some teaching themselves.

Read the full article…

#10. How Collaborative District Leadership Supports Opportunity Culture® Success

March 3, 2023

Successful Opportunity Culture implementation in a school district isn’t all up to the schools: Getting broad participation and communication from multiple district offices provides the support schools need. In North Carolina’s Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Area Superintendent Timisha Barnes-Jones and Tina Lupton, executive director of professional learning, have collaborated closely to ensure that Opportunity Culture support exists at all levels.