Opportunity Culture® News and Views
By Public Impact, November 18, 2020
Why and how should you use Opportunity Culture? Watch our two-part video to get the scoop!
What barriers keep teachers and students from experiencing great support and strong learning outcomes? Part 1 highlights barriers that an Opportunity Culture can remove.
Part 2 details how an Opportunity Culture provides on-the-job, consistent support for all teachers to reach many more students with excellence, learn more, and earn more!
Watch the videos here.
By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, November 11, 2020
After more than two decades in education, including stints teaching kindergarten and English as a second language, Elizabeth Fernandez had settled into a district role as a data specialist for teaching and learning—until the multi-classroom leader (MCL) role offered her the chance to lead while returning to the classroom.
“When you’re in central office, it’s great, and you do lots of great things,” Fernandez said, “but when you’re at a campus, there’s just an energy and a love—it’s just the kids. I love these kids.”
But the appeal of working directly with kids again would not have been enough on its own, she said. Read more…
By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, November 3, 2020
Opportunity Culture’s effects on teachers and students have been in the news recently; don’t miss these stories in Tuesday’s Education Dive:
From AEI, October 8, 2020, by Nat Malkus
As schools confront massive budget shortfalls in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it is critical that they examine how they might use existing funding more efficiently. On this episode of The Report Card, Nat Malkus talks with Bryan Hassel about how districts might rethink their staffing models in a way that will increase students’ access to excellent teachers and create opportunities for advancement within the teaching profession, all without spending more money. Byran is the co-president of Public Impact and a contributor to the newly released volume, Getting the Most Bang for the Education Buck. Listen to the podcast…
From EdNC, October 7, 2020, by Beth Clifford, David Gilmore, Cole Smith, Preston Faulk and Molly Osborne
Since the COVID-19 pandemic upended life as we knew it in March, North Carolina school districts have had to rethink how they deliver education. After transitioning online in the spring, districts could choose between a hybrid model with limited face-to-face instruction (plan B) and 100% virtual instruction (plan C) for the start of the 2020-21 school year this fall. Read the full article…
By Public Impact, September 8, 2020
How do excellent, experienced multi-classroom leaders support their teaching teams remotely during a crisis? They and their teams face extreme challenges of helping students through the trauma of the pandemic, racial violence, and protests while delivering excellent instruction—all while balancing their own stress and personal needs.
Join us on September 15th at 4:30 p.m. ET to hear three multi-classroom leaders share their tips and resources for supporting and coaching teachers when some or all are working from home. This free webinar is open to anyone, not just Opportunity Culture educators. View the webinar and resources here.
Some parents are creating home-based, closed groups of a few families’ children to learn together under the rotating supervision of parents or a paid supervisor. Pods could keep students’ learning and social-emotional development on track while helping protect their and their teachers’ health. Read more…
By Sharon Kebschull Barrett; first published by EducationNC, August 18, 2020
Delmonika Vick always wanted to be a teacher, and she got an education degree. But other opportunities kept coming along, and she found herself in corporate banking for four years — only to realize, several years in, what a struggle it was to go to work each day.
“I didn’t have any sense of fulfillment — I didn’t feel like I was making a difference,” Vick said. “I knew that I was supposed to teach, then — I knew that I had to pursue education.”
An Edgecombe County, North Carolina native, Vick intended to go straight into a classroom teaching role, until a chance meeting with Principal Donnell Cannon led to an offer to be a reach associate (RA) at North Edgecombe High. Read more…
By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, June 12, 2020
In Gentry, Arkansas, Opportunity Culture is just getting started, but educators aren’t waiting around.
The district’s first nine multi-classroom leaders (MCLs) were told of their new titles in March and officially appointed at the April school board meeting, expecting to begin their roles this fall. But when the COVID-19 crisis demanded a 48-hour turnaround from in-school to at-home learning, the MCLs stepped up to lead immediately.
“They did everything,” Assistant Superintendent Christie Toland said. “They made videos to put together a video library, and they were so good, and we got such a response that was positive from parents and from students, that they are going to hang on to those, and we’re going to build on it moving into the future.” Read More…
By Sharon Kebschull Barrett, June 11, 2020
As educators end the school year and look ahead to an uncertain fall, districts report that their Opportunity Culture leaders helped smooth the transition to at-home learning and set up structures that will help next year.
In Arkansas, middle school multi-classroom leaders (MCLs) in Lincoln Consolidated Schools made the transition easier by creating structures other schools could use, and producing instructional videos that could be used now and in the future.
In the few days the district had to plan its transition to at-home learning, Lindsay Bounds, Lincoln Middle School’s math and science MCL, worked with her principal and fellow MCLs to create a digital plan outlining what every person in the school would do. The district’s high school quickly adapted the plan for its own use after the superintendent shared it. Read More…