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Beverley Tyndall

Looking for an Opportunity Culture® Job?

May 18, 2015

Are you intrigued by all you’ve read and heard about an Opportunity Culture?

Interested in extending your reach to more students, for more pay?

Ready to lead from within, sharing your great teaching without leaving the classroom by leading a team, for significantly higher pay?

Are you a new teacher interested in all the support an Opportunity Culture has to offer?

Or do you know teachers who deserve the respect, support, career advancement possibilities, and higher pay that an Opportunity Culture could offer them?

Find Opportunity Culture job postings from several districts here!

Learn more about what current Opportunity Culture teachers think here—multi-classroom leaders, blended-learning teachers, and team teachers discuss their jobs, and principals talk about the benefits of an Opportunity Culture and why they wanted this in their schools.

 

Recruitment Toolkit

May 16, 2015

Opportunity Culture roles have attracted great teachers across the country, producing strong recruiting results for schools of all kinds. But having great roles is not enough. Early, active recruitment and strong communications are essential to reach great candidates—both within a district and from elsewhere—and encourage them to apply for Opportunity Culture roles. Some Opportunity Culture schools begin active recruitment the prior fall, rather than waiting until spring or summer.

An Opportunity for Change

May 15, 2015

Real Clear Education, May 15, 2015, by Kristin Cubbage, Multi-Classroom Leader

“We need a change; more important, our students deserve change.” Multi-Classroom Leader Kristin Cubbage was amazed with the results she saw in her school, and she looks forward to the growth of Opportunity Culture.

RealClearEducation.com Launches Opportunity Culture® Series

May 15, 2015

On RealClearEducation.com today, Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL) Kristin Cubbage of Ashley Park Pre-K-8 in Charlotte, N.C., contrasts the support teachers get in an Opportunity Culture school to the support in typical schools—and issues a call to action to policymakers, administrators, and her fellow teachers:

“No school has enough administrators to coach every teacher. In a regular school, the average teacher receives three to five observations yearly. In an Opportunity Culture school, MCLs get to observe their teachers three to five times weekly. …

“How many teachers are out there struggling daily because of lack of support? How many burn out because they’ve tried all they know? How many leave our profession early because they can’t do it on their own any longer? How many kids suffer because they have access to only one teacher? How many students are falling more and more behind because they have zero control over their educational trajectory? We need a change; more important, our students deserve change.” —Kristin Cubbage

Cubbage kicks off a monthly series of posts by Opportunity Culture MCLs, blended-learning teachers, elementary school subject specialists, and principals. In addition to her call to action, she shares her initial response to Opportunity Culture:

“As I listened to administrators at [my school] describe coming changes, I knew in a flash that this new model would bring me my dream job. Asbhley Park would create an “Opportunity Culture” in the 2013­–14 academic year, in which high-performing teachers reach more students, for more pay, within current school budgets. One of the new job models in an Opportunity Culture is a “multi-classroom leader”—a teacher who continues to teach while leading a team of teachers, taking accountability for the results of all students served by the team, with plenty of school-day time for planning and collaboration— and much higher pay. … I knew that becoming an MCL, with accountability for multiple teachers and all their students, could be game-changing for teachers and students alike.”—Kristin Cubbage

Read her full column here; watch Kristin and others talk about their Opportunity Culture jobs here.

Get Inspired: Listen to Some Opportunity Culture® Teachers

May 14, 2015

Interviewing Opportunity Culture teachers and multi-classroom leaders recently in Charlotte and Cabarrus County, N.C., I got a little embarrassed. I never was much of a hard-bitten reporter, but still, I really shouldn’t start to cry at the teachers’ answers to my questions, should I?

But I teared up several times anyway, listening to them tell me how much their new Opportunity Culture roles meant to them, their students, and their school. Videographer Beverley Tyndall and I began taping these interviews eight months ago, asking all about the good, the bad, and the ugly of being Opportunity Culture pioneers. While teachers haven’t shied away from telling us what’s been tough as they work out initial implementation kinks, overwhelmingly, they tell us the good–or, more accurately, the really great.

You can see some of what they’ve told me in our Opportunity Culture Voices on Video collection. But since it will be a little while before we post more videos from these Charlotte and Cabarrus visits, I wanted to go ahead and share some of the thoughts of these multi-classroom leaders (MCLs) who lead a team of teachers; teachers using subject specialization for the first time in elementary school, teaching just one or two subjects to multiple groups of students; and teachers extending their reach to more students by using blended learning for the first time–plus a few of their students:

  • Mary Price, Rocky River Elementary, which is in its first year using Subject Specialization and Multi-Classroom Leadership. Price is the kindergarten reading teacher, on an MCL’s kindergarten team: “I’ve been teaching 22 years. This is the year that I can really focus on that one subject and all the children I’m teaching. I know what they need, and that’s what I’m focusing on. … I’ve never had so much support (as from the MCLs). … I’m not leaving this school, and I’ve told other people, you need to come here or go somewhere that has this program. It’s great for the children.”
  • Cyndal Brenneman, kindergarten and 1st grade MCL at Rocky River Elementary: “You make your teachers happy when you do (MCL) with specialization and when you give them more support. I have found that to be huge this year.”

Indianapolis District Lays Opportunity Culture® Groundwork

May 11, 2015

Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is joining the Opportunity Culture initiative to extend the reach of its excellent teachers and teams they lead to more students, for more pay, within budget. With the support of Public Impact, IPS will lay the groundwork by June for up to six schools to opt into piloting Opportunity Culture staffing models, to reach many more students with great teaching and create career paths for teachers to join teams, advance their careers, and lead peers without having to leave the classroom.

In an Opportunity Culture, teachers lead the way to change their schools. Opportunity Culture models use job redesign and age-appropriate technology to extend teachers’ reach. A school design team of teachers and administrators at each school selects and adapts the models to fit their school best. IPS pilot schools will create these teams over the summer, and they will work toward implementing the new models in the 2016–17 school year.

“We’re delighted to give our schools the opportunity to give all teachers the support, on-the-job learning, leadership opportunities, and higher pay they deserve,” said Superintendent Lewis Ferebee. “I want all students to benefit from excellent teaching.”

Support is a hallmark of Opportunity Culture schools. Teachers typically work in collaborative teams, with set-aside time during school hours for planning and developing their skills, along with frequent feedback from the teaching team leaders.

Pilot schools will receive help changing their schedules to make this set-aside time possible and developing an effective team process focused on excellent teaching. This team collaboration and teacher-led improvement provides a supportive environment for teachers to address student needs.

Op-Ed: N.C. Must Invest to Magnify Great Teachers’ Impact

May 11, 2015

“North Carolina will never make the educational strides it needs until the best educators have far greater impact for a lot more pay,” say Public Impact’s co-directors in an op-ed in Saturday’s Raleigh News and Observer.

Noting that the state’s General Assembly “rightfully added 6 percent focused primarily on early-career teachers’ base pay,” Bryan C. Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel point out that other states also increased salaries for teachers, and likely will again. So, they say, state leaders must complete the 10 percent average raise, and then some, just to stay on par in the region.

“Meanwhile, the pay gap with neighboring states yawns wider for experienced teachers,” the Hassels write. “Most importantly, base pay bumps for early-career teachers don’t empower or entice excellent teachers, many of whom are veterans, to lead from the classroom – reaching more students and helping peers excel.”

But North Carolina could change that, and lead the region in the process. They write:

N.C. must invest to magnify the impact of great teachers

May 8, 2015

Published in The News & Observer, May 8, 2014, by Public Impact® Co-Directors Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel North Carolina will never make the educational strides it needs until the best educators have far greater impact for a lot more pay. The General...

Opportunity Culture®: A New Model for Education

May 8, 2015

Published on Real Clear Education, May 8, 2015 by Public Impact® Co-Directors Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel Schools don’t have enough truly excellent teachers to fill all our nation’s classrooms. Even if schools use all their best recruitment and retention...

Opportunity Culture® in the News: Real Clear Education, NPR

April 15, 2015

Looking for an overview of an Opportunity Culture®, and an example of multi-classroom leadership in action? These could get you started: Today, Public Impact® co-directors Bryan and Emily Hassel kick off a monthly series of posts on Real Clear Education by Opportunity...