To understand an Opportunity Culture, start here: For excellent teachers and those aspiring to excellence, and for administrative or education policy leaders, this brief provides an overview of how an Opportunity Culture can help teachers have the well-paid, empowered profession they deserve—while helping many more students succeed.
Beverley Tyndall
Recruit Great Teachers with Great Opportunities, 4 Key Steps
What brings excellent teachers in droves to apply for jobs in hard-to-staff schools? Project L.I.F.T. in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District started by offering a complete Opportunity Culture package of career advancement roles that let great teachers stay in the classroom, help more students, and collaborate with and lead peers. These roles provide significantly higher pay and offer on-the-job development to all teachers–within regular school budgets. With that package on offer, four key recruitment steps got teachers’ attention.
And so, in its second year of Opportunity Culture implementation in four schools, Project L.I.F.T. saw a strong uptick in both the quantity–more than 800 applications for 27 spots–and quality of applicants for teaching roles at schools that previously saw many positions go unfilled.
Dan Swartz, L.I.F.T.’s human capital strategies specialist, and L.I.F.T. Superintendent Denise Watts explain how they got there in a new vignette from Public Impact, Recruiting in an Opportunity Culture: Lessons Learned, with an accompanying video of principals and district leaders sharing how an Opportunity Culture attracts great teachers.
- First, Swartz says, start early—by March, if not earlier, before the best teachers find jobs elsewhere.
- Second, communicate clearly about the benefits—A complete package of sustainable career advancement opportunities is rare in education, and teachers won’t expect it. Districts must communicate the whole picture of opportunities, support, and pay.
Recruiting in an Opportunity Culture®
District leaders and principals from Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Project L.I.F.T. schools share thoughts on how an Opportunity Culture® is attracting teachers to previously hard-to-staff schools. The video features interviews with, in order of appearance: Dan Swartz,...
Nashville Team Teachers in an Opportunity Culture®
Teachers on multi-classroom leader teams in Metro Nashville Opportunity Culture® schools tell why they love their collaborative teams. This video features interviews with the following teachers from Buena Vista Enhanced Option Elementary School, in order of...
Nashville Principals in an Opportunity Culture®
Hear principals of two Opportunity Culture® schools in Metro Nashville discuss why an Opportunity Culture® is the “it factor” in changing the game for teachers and students, especially in high-need schools, in video from Public Impact®’s Opportunity Culture®...
Nashville Multi-Classroom Leaders in an Opportunity Culture®
Multi-classroom leaders in Opportunity Culture® schools in Metro Nashville share thoughts about why they love their jobs, in video from Public Impact®’s Opportunity Culture® Initiative. The video features interviews with, in order of appearance: Joi Mitchell,...
Recruiting in an Opportunity Culture®
What brings excellent teachers in droves to apply for jobs in hard-to-staff schools? Project L.I.F.T. in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District started by offering a complete Opportunity Culture package of career advancement roles, then advertised those roles early, often, and clearly—leading to a strong uptick in both the quantity and quality of applicants for teaching roles at schools that previously saw many positions go unfilled. L.I.F.T. leaders explain how they did it in this brief vignette.
Nashville Student Teachers Earn, Learn, Support Teacher-Leaders
Better-prepared new teachers, more adults in every classroom, more small-group instruction, more adults caring for every student—how can a school wrap all that up in one package? Three Metropolitan Nashville Opportunity Culture® schools are trying a novel approach...
Metropolitan Nashville’s Innovation Zone Case Study
Better-prepared new teachers, more adults in every classroom, more small-group instruction, more adults caring for every student—how can a school wrap all that up in one package? Three Metropolitan Nashville Opportunity Culture schools are trying a novel approach with paid, yearlong student teaching positions. In this case study, Public Impact examines this “aspiring teachers” program and its early implementation.
Opportunity Culture® Principals: “People Want to Be a Part of This”
Now, it’s the principals’ turn: We’ve shared videos of multi-classroom leaders and team teachers telling why they love their jobs in the Metro Nashville schools that have created an Opportunity Culture. Hear why the principals at Bailey STEM Magnet Middle School and Buena Vista Elementary call an Opportunity Culture “sustainable,” “innovative,” and the “it factor” in changing the game for students and teachers. These principals’ schools use multi-classroom leadership, setting up the feedback loops from team teaching, collaboration, and teacher-leadership that they and their teachers revel in.
“Absolutely the most powerful benefit is student achievement”
“You make sure that every single child is in a top-quality classroom”
“Teachers are applying at newfound rates to be a part of this work”
And watch this blog! We’ll have more videos to come in 2015 from other Opportunity Culture sites, such as Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cabarrus County, N.C., and Syracuse, N.Y.