As learning growth results continue to come in across the U.S. for the 2024–25 year, educators in many high-growth schools may find their celebrations tinged with an edge of dread. They and their students worked so hard for their results—but what now?
Many organizations, not just schools, find sustaining high performance just as hard as achieving it. In schools, the challenges include:
When Carlsbad Municipal Schools Superintendent Gerry Washburn joined the district, it was facing high teacher vacancies and low student success—and a lot of low morale. A chance conversation with Ector County, Texas, Superintendent Scott Muri showed Washburn a new option—Opportunity Culture® school redesign. With inclusive leadership and a determination to get design and implementation of new staffing roles right, plus a strong district team and principals, Washburn saw schools begin to soar and lead the state: “I’ve been stunned at the acceleration that we’re seeing.”
From The Education Gadfly Show, October 22, 2025
In Episode #991 of The Education Gadfly Show, Bryan Hassel, co-president of Public Impact, joins the hosts Michael J. Petrilli, David Griffith, and Adam Tyner to discuss how redesigning school staffing—through models like Opportunity Culture®—can boost both teacher retention and student success. Listen to the episode here.
October 1, 2025, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—In 2024–25, hundreds of North Carolina schools with Certified Opportunity Culture School® status were two to three times more likely to exceed learning growth expectations than schools not using these designs, data from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction shows.
Opportunity Culture staffing design affects both instruction and human resources by extending the reach of excellent teaching to more students, for more pay, within regular budgets. Schools create Multi-Classroom Leader® teaching teams, which are led by a teacher with a record of high-growth student learning. A team of teachers and administrators at each school determines the exact team design, and schools vary significantly in their design, curricula, and instruction. Schools can receive certification from Public Impact, which created the Opportunity Culture initiative, by following a set of design standards correlated with student learning growth.
Of all 258 certified schools, 48% exceeded growth targets, compared with 25% of all schools in the state without Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL™) teams.
Of the 222 Title I schools with certification, 43% exceeded growth targets, compared with 21% of Title I schools without the teams.
The certified schools were also significantly less likely to fall short of growth targets than comparable schools in the state. Although Title I schools using these teams without certification were also more likely to exceed growth targets and less likely to fall short, the magnitude of differences was far larger for certified schools.
In the first of an occasional “Superintendents Speak” series, Superintendent Rodney McNeill of Greene County and Superintendent Rodney Peterson of Person County discuss why they chose to use Opportunity Culture® models in their districts, and why they elected to have their districts go through a fast-track design workshop together in the spring, to be able to begin using Multi-Classroom Leader® teaching teams in the fall. Both districts feel the pressure of nearby, larger districts—and districts already using Opportunity Culture® models—that are able to pay teachers more.
From District Administration, by Dr. Stephanie Howard, September 12, 2025
District leaders say they want to keep great teachers. But how often do actions match the promise?
Too often, districts spend far more time doing what it takes to recruit teachers than to retain, equip and empower them. To retain teachers, they need a complete package of preparation, support, career growth and compensation—and now we know how to do just this.
Our profession has operated on a revolving-door mentality—a person leaves and we hire a person to replace them—instead of thinking about how we can build on the expertise we already have and using our best talent to impact more people.
With these teams, leaders and teachers can earn more by extending their reach to more students, and we make sure the extra pay is sustainable by reallocating regular budgets.
Advanced paraprofessionals and paid, yearlong teacher residents focus on leading small-group tutoring, providing meaningful support to their teams and creating a clear path into teaching—where they feel set up for success from day one.
The good news is that this complete package of educator support leads to powerful results for students. In Midland ISD, we have seen this firsthand since resetting our Opportunity Culture staffing model; 18 of 22 schools saw learning gains. One school went from a state-assigned “D” letter grade to a B, increasing by 25 points; many others went up by at least 12 points.
From Odessa American, by Ruth Campbell, September 12, 2025
In the six years since it introduced Opportunity Culture, Ector County ISD now has 25 campuses in the initiative. Opportunity Culture, according to the ECISD website, is an innovative approach to staffing that multiplies the impact of highly effective teachers, improving student performance.
“Opportunity Culture also enhances efforts to recruit and retain highly qualified instructors by offering career advancement opportunities, sustainable higher pay, and on-the-job professional development and support,” the site says.
The district refers to groups of schools using Opportunity Culture as cohorts. Talent Development Director Mayra Leyva said the district added two new campuses this year. Adding campuses depends on the school and whether there is a need. That excludes specialized high schools like Odessa Collegiate Academy, OCTECHS and New Tech Odessa. Through the work that Leyva and her predecessor Susan Hendricks have done, they have tightened up their accountability and expectations, Executive Director of Talent Development Scott Rudes said.
“That has led to a renewed focus on not just student outcomes but teacher effectiveness. The purpose of having a multi-classroom leader on the team is to increase teacher effectiveness. We now have systems that have been put in place over the last year that have really renewed our focus on those outcomes,” Rudes said.
When schools and districts begin using Multi-Classroom Leader® teams, should they wade in, or dive in? Find out the answer by reading the September 2025 edition of our newsletter, featuring a podcast that reveals what district leaders have said over the past decade...
When schools and districts begin using Multi-Classroom Leader® teams, should they wade in, or dive in? Hear what district leaders have said over the past decade on how best to improve student learning growth and teacher careers.
Superintendents, district leaders, principals, and team leaders from North Carolina’s Wilson County, Hertford County, and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County districts, as well as Winchester, Virginia, and Ector County and Midland districts in Texas—several of whom have Opportunity Culture® experience in multiple districts—discuss what worked for them.
As part of the lead-up to the SXSW EDU conference each year, anyone can vote for proposed sessions—and we need your votes to help our three proposals stand out from the 1,450+ submissions!
Please take a few minutes to vote for one or all of our proposals, so we can share what we’ve learned from your Opportunity Culture® work and help tackle some of the most important issues in education.