When you’re not sure where to start, ask your students! Well, not always, but when I came to Charlotte, North Carolina’s James Martin Middle School as a multi-classroom leader in 2014, I felt overwhelmed. I started as the MCL for sixth grade, where for the previous...
Beverley Tyndall
When Students Own Their Academic Results, They Transform Their Schools
By Erin Williams; first published by The 74, May 15, 2017
“I was shocked to discover in student conferences how few students knew about grade-level expectations; even fewer were aware of their own performance on the previous state end-of-grade test.” Multi-Classroom Leader Erin Williams tells how she and her team of teachers create the “Strive for 5” campaign to combat negative learning growth and empower students. Read More…
Erin Williams on Being a Multi-Classroom Leader
Erin Williams, a multi-classroom leader at James Martin Middle School in Charlotte, N.C., describes how she and her team use data to encourage students to track their own growth toward their learning goals. Can’t access YouTube? Watch this video on Vimeo instead!
Elevating the Teaching Profession: A Call to Action
From CTL Online, May 10, 2017 by Deborah Walker
This research paper by Dr. Deborah Walker and Barb Myerson-Katz on how to elevate the teaching profession examines two broad categories largely under the control of individual districts and schools. The authors feature Opportunity Culture as one example of a research-based, comprehensive model aimed at boosting student learning by transforming teacher roles throughout a school.
Opportunity Culture® Voices: Extending Great Teachers’ Reach in Turnaround (or Any) Schools
What does the start of a school turnaround look like? When Mark Johnson left West Charlotte High School as his Teach for America stint ended, he likely could not have imagined a bright future for the school. I arrived a year later, in 2009. The high-poverty, highly...
How to Extend the Reach of Great Teachers in Turnaround (or Any) Schools
By Erin Burns; first published by The 74, April 24, 2017
“These are the changes policymakers can’t fully grasp when they look just at a school’s report card. But Superintendent Johnson saw up close the “different world” we’re creating.” Biology Multi-Classroom Leader Erin Burns shows how Multi-Classroom Leadership and its intensive support could help change school culture and student results at West Charlotte High School. Read More…
IPS rewarding exceptional teachers
From WTHR-TV, April 11, 2017 by Rich Van Wyk
Here’s an idea to improve schools and teachers. Pay exceptional teachers more money. Give them the responsibility of helping other teachers and keep them from quitting to take better paying jobs. Indianapolis Public schools is trying to do just that and getting recognition from the National Council on Teacher Quality.
One More Time Now: Why Lowering Class Sizes Backfires
Published on Education Next, March 21, 2017, by Bryan Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel You’ve probably read an article with a headline like this. Why say it again? Because class-size reduction continues to be so seductive. Our own state of North Carolina is just the...
ICYMI: Opportunity Culture® Columns on Class Size, Multi-Classroom Leadership
In today's Education Next, Public Impact® Co-Directors Bryan C. Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel take a look at the seductiveness of the concept of reducing class sizes--and why policymakers should resist temptation. "The answer’s pretty simple," they write. "A...
Opportunity Culture® Columns on The 74
Our series of columns for The 74, whose motto is 74 Million Kids. 74 Million Reasons to Talk Education, will come from Opportunity Culture educators eager to share what their jobs are like, the differences they make for students, and the lessons they’ve learned as they extend the reach of their great teaching to many more students.