Press Releases

October 10, 2024, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— Fifteen North Carolina school systems, including the state’s five largest districts—Wake, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Guilford, Winston-Salem-Forsyth, and Cumberland—are leading the first wave of schools nationally to receive Certified Opportunity Culture Schools™ status. 

The schools earning this designation have implemented innovative models that extend the reach of excellent teachers and the small teams they lead to more students, for more pay, within regular school budgets. Certified schools have taken steps toward meeting standards correlated with student learning growth.

Third-party studies, including one focused on Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), have shown that Opportunity Culture^® models boost student learning an extra half-year annually, on average. Recent data support these findings.

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October 1, 2024, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Showing their commitment to reaching all students with excellent teaching, consistently, and all educators with excellent, paid career opportunities, 366 schools in eight states have been awarded the new Certified Opportunity Culture School™ designation. Districts using Opportunity Culture^® strategic staffing designs implement innovative models that extend the reach of excellent teachers and the small teams they lead to more students, for more pay, within regular school budgets.

Third-party studies have shown that Opportunity Culture models boost student learning an extra half-year annually, on average. They retain effective teachers and pay many team positions more, giving educators support, collaboration and career opportunities. The latest annual, anonymous survey of educators in all schools using Opportunity Culture models shows nearly unanimous support for their school’s implementation, with 99% of educators in the Multi-Classroom Leader® role and 91% of educators in all Opportunity Culture roles agreeing that they want it to continue in their school.

With Opportunity Culture certification and validation, schools and districts can attract applicants looking for support and career paths, and reassure parents, their community, state and funders that they are using models that increase student learning. Certification levels convey strength of implementation in key areas, including selectivity of Opportunity Culture roles, student access to instruction led by Opportunity Culture teams, incorporation of small-group, high-dosage tutoring into staffing plans and financial sustainability of staffing plans.

The newly certified schools are all at the “provisional” level reflecting their 2023–24 school year, and they can attain higher certification levels for the current school year and beyond. Twenty-eight districts total in Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia now have certified schools.

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November 15, 2023, CARRBORO, N.C.—Three of the nation’s largest school districts—Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Fort Worth, and Montgomery County (Maryland)—have been awarded a $7.7 million federal grant for widespread implementation of Opportunity Culture^® innovative staffing models, which Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools pioneered with Public Impact^®’s support in 2013. With the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program (TSL) grant, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will expand its use of these models to all of its schools over three years, while the Fort Worth and Montgomery County districts will launch and expand the models over three years.

Districts using Opportunity Culture^® designs implement innovative staffing models that help schools reach all students with excellent teaching, consistently, and all educators with excellent, paid career opportunities. Public Impact^®, which founded the national Opportunity Culture^® initiative, is marking its 10^th year supporting implementation of the models, which extend the reach of excellent teachers and the small teams they lead to more students, for more pay, within regular school budgets.

Public Impact^® will support Montgomery County (MCPS) and Fort Worth (FWISD) in launching and spreading Opportunity Culture^® models and provide Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) with data analysis to inform its expansion.

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June 1, 2023, CARRBORO, N.C.—Public Impact has released its Opportunity Culture Dashboard update, showing the expansion of the national Opportunity Culture initiative to 11 states and more than 150,000 students and 5,400 teachers. The dashboard annually updates progress of the initiative, which aims to help schools reach all students with excellent teaching, consistently, and all teachers with excellent, paid career opportunities.

To update the dashboard, Public Impact analyzes Opportunity Culture data and educator survey results and uses the results to continue to refine its advising of districts and charter schools on implementing Opportunity Culture innovative staffing models. With the overarching goal of reaching all students with high-growth learning, Public Impact aims to help schools make changes that educators love, with increased career opportunities and support. Read the full press release…

May 12, 2022, CHAPEL Hill, N.C.—Eleven school districts and a charter management organization in Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Arkansas are the latest to join the national Opportunity Culture initiative, led by Public Impact, which extends the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within recurring budgets. Some sites also include yearlong, paid residencies for aspiring teachers, allowing them to learn on the job in a teaching team led by an excellent teacher. Fifty-five districts and charter school organizations in 10 states now use Opportunity Culture models in their schools, increasing student learning growth and access to small-group tutoring, and creating career paths for teachers and paraprofessionals that let them advance without having to leave the classroom. Read the full press release…

July 22, 2021, CHAPEL Hill, N.C.—Bringing a fresh approach to teacher training, five more Texas school districts will be providing yearlong, paid teacher residencies on teaching teams led by excellent teachers in the 2021–22 school year, by implementing Opportunity Culture roles in partnership with local universities and US PREP National Center (University-School Partnerships for the Renewal of Educator Preparation). Read the full press release…

June 17, 2021, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— Public Impact announces with pleasure the seventh cohort of Opportunity Culture Fellows, made up of eight principals who have achieved strong results in their schools and districts.

Fellows provide support to their cohort, take one another’s ideas back to their schools, write columns or lead webinars about their experiences, and speak locally and nationally about their Opportunity Culture roles. Their feedback and leadership are invaluable in helping to improve the Opportunity Culture initiative, and all materials related to it. Read the full press release…

January 28, 2021, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—As part of its commitment to implement Opportunity Culture in schools across the state, the Arkansas Department of Education is supporting its third cohort of school districts this year joining the national initiative to extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams, for more pay, within regular school budgets. The school districts of Brinkley, Crossett, Earle and Osceola will begin implementing Opportunity Culture roles in the 2021–22 school year. Read the full press release…

January 28, 2021, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—The North Carolina State Board of Education awarded Advanced Teaching Roles grants to Wilson County Schools and Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in fall 2020 to join the national Opportunity Culture initiative. The districts are using their grant funding this year to design and strengthen Opportunity Culture plans for implementation in fall 2021. Read the full press release…

January 28, 2021, CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Under Superintendent Marvin Connelly, Jr., Cumberland County Schools has become the eleventh district in North Carolina to join the national Opportunity Culture initiative, which extends the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within schools’ recurring budgets. Read the full press release…