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Paola Gilliam

Opportunity Culture® Spreads in Arkansas, North Carolina with State Support

February 1, 2021

By Public Impact, January 28, 2021

After the continued promising results in Opportunity Culture schools in their states and around the country, Arkansas and North Carolina have awarded grants to seven districts to design their Opportunity Culture plans for implementation in 2021–22.

Opportunity Culture schools use new roles—based on the cornerstone role of Multi-Classroom Leadership—to reach many more students with excellent, personalized instruction. These roles, which have produced outstanding student growth, provide intensive support to all teachers, paid career advancement, and a stronger teacher pipeline.

The national Opportunity Culture initiative, founded by Public Impact, is now in over 45 districts and charter school organizations across 10 states. Read more…

Midland, Texas, Educators Highlight Early Opportunity Culture® Impact

January 21, 2021

By Paola Gilliam, January 21, 2021

Midway through its first year of Opportunity Culture implementation, the Midland, Texas, school district shared Opportunity Culture impacts so far with its school board on Tuesday.

“Opportunity Culture brings our teachers together, and it provides them the courage that is contagious in the classrooms we have,” Chris Hightower, the district’s Opportunity Culture lead, told the board. He introduced an Opportunity Culture principal, multi-classroom leader (MCL), and former teacher resident turned first-year teacher to share brief thoughts. Read more…

The Pandemic Closed Our Doors But Opened Our Minds: Why My School District Will Not Return to ‘Normal’

December 30, 2020

From Ed Surge, December 30, 2020, by Scott Muri

Previously the superintendent of Spring Branch ISD, Scott Muri became the superintendent of Ector County ISD in spring 2019. He implemented Opportunity Culture in both districts.

Educators around the globe knew this school year would be like nothing we had ever experienced. In the face of a worldwide pandemic, how do school districts properly balance the well-founded fears of staff and families with the equally well-founded evidence that children need schools to learn and to grow academically, socially and emotionally? A health crisis running headlong into an education crisis: Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year. Read the full article…

Greater Waco-area draws $2.2 million grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

December 3, 2020

From KXXV, December 3, 2020, by Garrett Hottle

Greater Waco will be utilizing a $2.2 million grant over three years from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the teacher workforce and the pipeline of qualified teachers in McLennan County.

An Opportunity Culture grant will fund a creative staffing model with a focus on supporting sustainable and affordable residencies for candidates at both the La Vega and Waco ISD school districts. Read the full article…

Cumberland County Schools Joins Forces with Opportunity Culture® to Increase Student Success

December 1, 2020

From Cumberland County Schools, December 1, 2020

To provide all students with excellent teaching and to help students close achievement gaps and leap ahead, our schools are creating an Opportunity Culture for their teachers and students. Opportunity Culture models enable schools to reach every student with excellent teachers and their teams—consistently—while paying teachers more for their extra responsibilities, and helping all educators improve on the job and work collaboratively. All pay supplements are funded through reallocations of existing budgets–no temporary grants. Read the full press release…

MISD Adds 8 Campuses to Opportunity Culture®

November 30, 2020

From Midland Independent School District, November 30, 2020

Midland ISD announced today that eight schools will be joining Opportunity Culture for the 2021-22 school year.
Opportunity Culture restructures pre-K–12 school staffing paradigms to extend the reach of excellent teachers, principals and their teams to more students, for more pay, within recurring school budgets. Yearlong, paid residencies make on-the-job learning possible before teaching and leading. The program has two major goals: to reach all students with excellent teachers more consistently, and to reach all educators with outstanding career opportunities. Read the press release…

Despite Challenges, Educators Gave Us Plenty To Be Thankful For

November 25, 2020

By Paola Gilliam, November 25, 2020

This year has been unrelentingly difficult in many ways, yet educators have repeatedly risen to the occasion. Faced with events—a pandemic, political uncertainty, protests against racial injustice, and more—that have left many of us feeling overwhelmed, educators have been a beacon of hope in their communities through their continued support for their fellow educators, students, and families. We are thankful for educators who have shown compassion, innovation, and determination throughout an incredibly challenging year. Read more…

Free Webinar: Shaping Your School’s Culture for Learning

November 23, 2020

By Public Impact, November 23, 2020

Join Opportunity Culture Fellow Matthew How, principal of Ridge Road Elementary in North Little Rock School District, for a webinar on Tuesday, December 1, at 4 p.m. ET, exploring how school leaders can right the ship when teachers are unhappy, and use Opportunity Culture to create opportunities for distributed leadership and collaboration—and ultimately, happy and successful staff and students. Principal How will share how he turned his school’s climate around and his tools for gathering data and acting on it, and answer your questions.

A recording of this free webinar is available here.

Winter 2020 Newsletter

November 20, 2020

The winter 2020 edition of our newsletter for Opportunity Culture educators includes details about an upcoming webinar, resources for teaching reading comprehension, tools and resources for winter planning, an updated video, and more. Read the winter 2020 newsletter here.

Eight Ways New Schools Innovate

November 19, 2020

From Forbes, November 19, 2020, by Tom Vander Ark

The rapid global shift to hybrid and remote learning—with lots of versions and variability—provoked renewed interest in new school models. And, compared to 20 years ago, the invention opportunity is enhanced by the science of learning, broad agreement on the importance of success skills, and better tools.

An innovative approach to the organization of staffing and time comes from schools in the Opportunity Culture network. They share a system of multi-classroom leadership that provides both a talent development ladder and better support for junior teachers. Read the full article…