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Opportunity Culture® News and Views

In a Texas Opportunity Culture® District, MCLs and Reach Associates Build Partnerships

by | November 11, 2020

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…

Opportunity Culture® in the News

by | November 3, 2020

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:

  • Three Ways to Build Teacher Retention: Mentoring, professional development, leadership opportunities… A virtual webinar on teacher retention for the National Summit on Improving Effective Personnel for Children With Disabilities featured Public Impact’s Troy Smith, who noted how Opportunity Culture career pathways let teachers advance without having to move out of the classroom.
  • Rubric for Recovery: ELs Face More Hurdles Amid Lost In-Person Learning: Multi-classroom leaders and educators in Opportunity Culture schools in Texas, North Carolina, and Indiana shared what they are doing to focus on English language learners.

Rethinking School Staffing

by | October 8, 2020

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…

Tracking fall reopening plans for all North Carolina districts: New database from EdNC and Public Impact®

by | October 7, 2020

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…

Free Webinar: Coaching Teachers Remotely During Covid

by | September 8, 2020

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.

Will Learning Pods Be Only for the Rich?

by | September 1, 2020

From Education Week, August 25, 2020, by Bryan C. Hassel and Sharon Kebschull Barrett

To exhausted or worried parents deciding whether to send their children into school buildings this fall, “pandemic pods” may look like an appealing way out. Keeping their boys and girls at home learning alone may be better for physical health but not for mental health, and the arrangement is difficult or impossible for many employed parents. Equally undesirable is the greater risk of children catching and spreading a potentially deadly disease from a larger number of people at school.

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…

How one educator used a paraprofessional role to become a stronger teacher

by | August 20, 2020

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…

When Learning Went Home, Newly Named Multi-Classroom Leaders Jumped In

by | June 12, 2020

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…

In Lincoln, Arkansas, Multi-Classroom Leaders Guide the Way on At-Home Learning

by | June 11, 2020

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…

Committing to Anti-Racism: Public Impact®’s Statement

by | June 2, 2020

By Public Impact Team, June 2, 2020

The deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor are the tip of a mammoth iceberg of racial injustice in our nation.

Behind these three injustices are millions of others, large and small, that, when unaddressed, leave those in power unchecked and emboldened to perpetuate more. As loud as the shouting of protestors may be right now, the sound of silence at the routine, everyday wrongs is the most deafening.

When a Black man in his own yard is assumed to be an intruder. When a birdwatcher is threatened for politely asking a white woman to follow park rules. When a shopper is followed around the store because of the color of her skin. When the promotion goes elsewhere, the pay is lower, and the police baton is wielded sooner. None of these are due to the actions of the victims, but all because of their race. This isn’t just unfair: It’s systematic, psychological warfare. Read more…