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A Closer Look at Advanced Teaching Roles in North Carolina: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

July 15, 2022

From BEST NC, July 15, 2022

This video from BEST NC examines how the Advanced Teaching Roles program has created new opportunities for teacher leadership and educator collaboration in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, resulting in increased student growth. CMS was the first and largest school district to receive Advanced Teaching Roles (ATR) grants. Like most of the North Carolina districts receiving ATR grants, CMS uses Opportunity Culture roles as its framework. Principal Phillip Steffes, featured in the video, is a 2018-19 Opportunity Culture Fellow. He led Opportunity Culture implementation at his previous school, Albemarle Road Elementary. Read what he wrote about the experience here.

Blackshear chief earns Elementary Principal of the Year

July 11, 2022

From OA Online, July 11, 2022

When a group of Ector County ISD officials turned up at Blackshear Magnet Elementary School, Principal Valerie Rivera thought the campus had won a grant or someone else was getting an award.

But that person was her. Rivera was recognized with the Elementary Principal of the Year award recently.

In her 28th year with ECISD, she has helmed Blackshear for four years. Rivera started as a bilingual teacher and worked her way up to assistant principal and principal.

#5. Comprehensive Communications Strengthen Opportunity Culture® School

July 8, 2022

Principal Julie Shields leads a school that ranks very high on Opportunity Culture surveys for communicating its Opportunity Culture plans and impact. She spoke with Public Impact about how she thinks through a communications strategy to keep Opportunity Culture implementation strong over many years.

Muri named Region 18 superintendent of the year

June 16, 2022

From OA Online, June 16, 2022

Ector County ISD has announced that Superintendent of Schools Scott Muri has been selected as the Region 18 Superintendent of the Year.

Muri joined ECISD in 2019, from Spring Branch ISD in Houston. He has 33 years of experience in public education that includes key leadership roles in large districts like Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina and Fulton County Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as in unique settings such as Walt Disney’s Celebration School in Celebration, Florida.

Sydney Garcia on Being a Multi-Classroom Leader

June 10, 2022

Sydney Garcia, a multi-classroom leader at Pease Elementary in Ector County ISD, says the MCL role is “the best of both worlds” allowing her to take on a leadership role while still being in the classroom.

Audriana Munoz on Being a Teacher Resident

June 10, 2022

Audriana Munoz, a teacher resident at Pease Elementary in Ector County ISD, describes how her yearlong paid residency, working under the guidance of a multi-classroom leader, prepared her to enter the teaching profession already feeling like “a second-year teacher.”

May 2022 Newsletter: Advice for Opportunity Culture® Schools & Districts

May 26, 2022

The May newsletter includes data dashboard updates; new Opportunity Culture sites; advice from district leaders in Ector County and Midland ISDs; reflections from the OC Director for Baltimore City Public Schools; thoughts from Hertford County, N.C. educators; and more! Read the May 2022 newsletter here.

Sneak Peek: Opportunity Culture® Educators Speak

May 26, 2022

By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, May 26, 2022

The communications team at Public Impact had the pleasure of visiting several districts this spring, for the first time since Covid hit, to interview Opportunity Culture educators and document their great work! We heard about their challenges and successes—what we learn in these interviews informs the guidance and support Public Impact provides to districts—and their opinions of Opportunity Culture roles and implementation.

Watch for stories and video clips highlighting specifics of their implementation and leadership and instructional practices in future months, but for now, here are a few of their thoughts to send us into summer:

Introduction to Opportunity Culture® Models + Residency

May 24, 2022

Featuring a panel of Opportunity Culture® leaders, this webinar gives an overview of the Opportunity Culture® initiative and highlights how Opportunity Culture® models help strengthen teacher pipelines and address teacher shortages in Texas, which has led the way in establishing paid, yearlong Opportunity Culture® teacher residencies. Dr. Sharon Shields, superintendent of La Vega Independent School District (ISD), Marlene Garcia Sauceda, Opportunity Culture® director in Klein ISD, and Anne Erickson, chief people and innovation officer for Uplift Education, discuss why their sites joined the initiative and how Opportunity Culture® educator roles are transforming teacher experiences and student learning, and answer participants’ questions about specifics of Opportunity Culture® implementation.

CMS joins national Opportunity Culture® educational initiative

May 22, 2022

From The Sentinel-Record, May 22, 2022

Cutter Morning Star School District is implementing Opportunity Culture models in its elementary school this fall as part of the Arkansas Department of Education’s statewide initiative to reach all students with quality, more-personalized teaching.

Superintendent Nancy Anderson said the district was approached by the department during the first year of its rollout and she visited the North Little Rock School District, which was one of the first schools to implement the program.