Congratulations to the 366 schools in eight states have been awarded the new designation of Certified Opportunity Culture School™, Provisional Level, 2023–24! See the complete list of all newly certified schools in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia here. Plus read about a low-cost route to strategic staffing, more on-demand PD, and free webinars, tools, news you can use and more—all in the October 2024 edition of our newsletter here!
Public Impact
Certification Helps Schools See How Their Practices Compare
The certification and validation processes allow schools to see how their Opportunity Culture® designs and implementation compare to other schools and data and research on what works.
Certification is a Road Map for Schools
The certification and validation processes help schools and districts understand what quality Opportunity Culture® implementation looks like, and provides reassurance to students’ parents and caregivers.
September 2024 Newsletter: Supports for Educators! Webinars, New Portal; Teacher Survey Results
This jam-packed, back-to-school edition of our newsletter highlights the new Opportunity Culture® portal, our online platform that supports educators with professional learning modules and instructional and leadership resources—all in one place! The September 4 newsletter also features free webinars and other events, a look at educator survey results, and news and social media highlights from districts across the country using Opportunity Culture® models. Read the newsletter here!
July 2024 Newsletter: Launching a New School Year
As summer winds down, we have resources to help you wind up for the new year, including the final session of a three-part webinar series, focuses on some of the most important elements to launch the new year for student success. The July newsletter also features highlights from our summer professional learning sessions and tools for launching and leading your team or planning ahead for great instruction—along with news and featured social media posts. Read more here!
New on EdNC.org from Public Impact: Creating a Tutoring Culture
Educators and policymakers continue to worry about permanent learning shortfalls post-Covid—both for individual students and the societal implications, including to the U.S. economy. In North Carolina, efforts to spread high-dosage tutoring help, but still reach a fraction of students. But North Carolina districts and schools using strategic staffing models point the way to getting students the amount of tutoring proven to dramatically increase learning—during school, within regular budgets, for all students, and with even more tutoring time for the students furthest behind.
Creating a ‘tutoring culture’ — for all, by all
From EdNC, by Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel, July 8, 2024
Every year, hundreds of billions of dollars will evaporate from the U.S. economy due to permanent learning shortfalls post-COVID, by McKinsey’s calculation.
Research has shown high-dosage tutoring is crucial to addressing these shortfalls. In effective high-dosage tutoring, tutors provide students with at least 90 minutes of tutoring per week, aligned with the school’s curricula, in small groups based on their learning data, to build relationships and meet students’ instructional needs. Tutors grow their knowledge and skills through professional development and coaching.
But far too few students in North Carolina get this sort of tutoring.
Is there a way to get tutoring to everyone without increasing costs? Yes, by engaging all available adults to create a “tutoring culture”– for all, by all.
March 2024 Newsletter: Free Educator Webinar for Testing Homestretch!
How can you use data to motivate students and teachers and celebrate learning growth? Our free 45-minute webinar has tips for teachers and teaching team leaders! Learn more in our March 2024 newsletter, which also includes a message from Shonaka Ellison of Public Impact, a new video about the Team Reach Teacher™ role, plus tools, videos, social media highlights, and news. Read all about it here!
February 2024 Newsletter: Creating Daily Support for Special Education Teachers
Show your educators some love! Our February 2024 newsletter features a blog post about how two schools provide stronger support for special education teachers by creating small Multi-Classroom Leader® teams; a preview of the new Opportunity Culture® portal; upcoming professional learning opportunities; plus tools, videos, and social media highlights. Read the February 2024 newsletter here.
Creating Daily, Job-Embedded Support for Special Education Teachers
How can schools provide stronger support for special education teachers? Schools we work with generally start their strategic staffing planning by creating small Multi-Classroom Leader® teams—grade- or subject-based teaching teams led a teacher with a record of student learning growth, who takes formal accountability for the team’s student results, for more pay. But some schools have begun to see the need for creating similar teams specifically for special education (SPED) teachers. Here’s an early look at what schools in two districts are doing, in the hopes of strengthening teacher retention and recruitment and better serving students…