Sharon Kebschull Barrett

Congratulations to Person County Superintendent Rodney Peterson, named on October 9 as the 2026 A. Craig Phillips North Carolina Superintendent of the Year!

The national superintendent of the year will be named in February at the national conference of the American Association of School Administrators.

As the award announcement noted, the district is planning to “continue building systemic solutions that transform student achievement across the district.” Under Peterson’s leadership, Person County Schools went through a fast-track design process in the spring to begin using Multi-Classroom Leader^® teaching teams this year, to extend the reach of excellent teaching to more students through Opportunity Culture^® staffing design.

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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 Opportunity Culture^® staffing design, 2024–25 data from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction shows.

Of all 258 schools with certification, 48% exceeded growth targets, compared with 25% of all schools in the state without these staffing designs.

Of the 222 Title I schools with certification, 43% exceeded growth targets, compared with 21% of Title I schools in the state without these designs.

The certified schools were also significantly less likely to fall short of growth expectations than comparable schools.

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Opportunity Culture^® teaching teams work, U.S. senators heard today in a Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions hearing on the state of K–12 education.

Ector County ISD Superintendent Emeritus Scott Muri was one of the hearing’s five witnesses. When he came to the district in the summer of 2019, he told the committee, “I was faced with 34,000 students, a staff of 4200, 45 schools. Twenty of those schools were ranked D or F by the state of Texas, with 16 of those schools receiving an F rating.

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Congratulations to Midland, Texas, Superintendent Stephanie Howard on the publication of her District Administration op-ed, How to keep teachers: Provide a complete package.

“District leaders say they want to keep great teachers. But how often do actions match the promise?” Howard wrote. “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.”

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Out today: Public Impact Co-President Bryan Hassel and Senior Vice President Kendall King joined the Learning Can't Wait podcast, sharing the background, results, and new possibilities of the Opportunity Culture initiative. To get motivated about giving every student...

There's a lot to read about in the latest newsletter! Check out the recap of the latest Opportunity Culture® data--big results showing how these roles outpace others in learning growth. We highlight the great things happening in Midland ISD, a Texas district in the...

Thanks to EdNC.org this week for publishing two op-eds by the leaders of The Innovation Project (TIP) and Public Impact, focused on exciting district strategic staffing collaboration in North Carolina. Photo courtesy of The Innovation Project Photo courtesy of The...

Scott Muri Jason van Heukelum Valerie Bridges Cindy Bennett Anthony Jackson We can tell you all about how district leaders laud Opportunity Culture® models. But as every great writing teacher ever has said, “show, don’t tell.” So to show you what superintendents...