recruitment and retention

At the Education Writers Association conference in Nashville on Tuesday, I listened to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan reiterate his belief that “education is the civil rights issue of our generation.”

On that, we at Public Impact couldn’t agree more.

He also talked about the outrage over our nation’s achievement gaps and worries about opportunity gaps. The country has, he said, a “courage gap” and an “action gap.”

We’d like to direct his attention to some teachers and leaders showing both courage and action.

In Opportunity Culture pilot schools, teachers are taking action, redesigning their schools to extend the reach of great teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within current budgets. Their leaders are showing courage by finding ways to make these redesigns possible within state rules and tight budgets. Creating Opportunity Culture schools means letting go of traditional one-teacher-one-classroom mindsets—and opening the door to career paths that let great teachers lead while continuing to teach, to opportunities for great teachers to reach more students directly with their inspiring instruction, and to opportunities for all students—not just a lucky few—to get excellent teaching, consistently, from teachers who get the pay and respect they deserve.

Where are those schools? Several were right under Duncan’s nose yesterday—in the iZone in Nashville. Schools in Cabarrus County, N.C., and Syracuse, N.Y., plan to implement their own Opportunity Cultures this fall. And in Charlotte-Mecklenburg (CMS), four schools participated in the pilot this year—to be joined by 17 more this fall, and by nearly half the schools in the district by 2017–18.

The pilot schools’ learning results will start rolling in this summer, with more robust data from more than 30 schools nationwide next year. But CMS Superintendent Heath Morrison saw one significant result already that led to his January decision to scale up from those first four pilots: Enthusiastic teachers, in a state where teacher enthusiasm may be at an all-time low. The pilot schools were swamped last year with applications for these Opportunity Culture jobs, even in high-poverty schools. Despite the hard work of implementing something completely new, teachers’ enthusiasm continues (see what they’re saying here).

What makes an Opportunity Culture different enough to resonate so profoundly with teachers and district leaders?

“The teacher is the cornerstone of all this work.”–Denise Watts, zone superintendent, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Take a peek into Project L.I.F.T.’s Opportunity Culture work in this video from the 2014 N.C. Emerging Issues Forum. Hear Charlotte’s Denise Watts, John Wall, and Rebecca Thompson talk about L.I.F.T.’s efforts to close achievement gaps using Opportunity Culture models, giving teachers career paths that create leadership opportunities without leaving the classroom, for higher pay:

“If you don’t invest in them, if you don’t make them feel respected and empowered, that’s how you lose fabulous teachers.”

“Teachers play the most important role in making the determination about a student’s success in a school.”

“People are willing to take on the additional responsibility, especially if they are compensated and recognized for it.”

As teachers and leaders pull Opportunity Culture models into five states in 2014 (watch for announcements, coming soon!), what teachers think about their experiences matters enormously.

Listen to their voices: On our new “What Teachers Are Saying” page, teachers from school design teams that chose and adapted models to fit their schools, and the teachers working within those models this year talk about what an Opportunity Culture has meant to their lives, professionally and personally. This amazing group of teaching pioneers loves the support, collaboration, on-the-job learning, and higher pay in their Opportunity Culture schools:

“Support is a huge piece of this—it makes a big difference! I feel very supported this year, more so than last year. I love how [my multi-classroom leader] can co-teach with me and also work with students.”— Buena Vista Elementary team teacher Amy Cramer, Nashville

“I think the sky is the limit. I never would have thought that about teacher salary—usually, it’s, ‘I’m going to cap out soon as a teacher. I do it because I love it, etc. But to actually think that I could be paid what I’m worth is the best feeling in the world. Teachers are so underappreciated and devalued, especially ELA teachers.”—Tiffany McAfee, Touchstone Education master teacher, Newark, N.J.

“I actually was able to start a savings account this year, for the first time in my career.”—Ashley Park Elementary Multi-Classroom Leader® Kristin Cubbage, speaking to Charlotte’s WBTV

“I love [being a multi-classroom leader] because I’m able to model things. Teachers can come watch me as I teach. I get to preach what I teach, I get to work with students, they get a double dose, and with a person who has more experience, teachers feel like they get additional service. That brings a whole new dimension to how they see me. If they see I can have success managing their students with the same strategies I’m telling them to use, they know it can work. It’s also relevant to them. They also trust it. A big thing with teachers is trust. Someone in the trenches makes it much more useful. They trust my feedback and value it. And they see it in action.”— Buena Vista Elementary MCL Joe Ashby, Nashville

“For brainstorming, there are just more people to go to. I’m so excited to have that. I feel like I have a career focus now. Before, I enjoyed teaching, but didn’t know how to advance.”—Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary team teacher Tamika Samples, Nashville

Watch for more quotes as more schools create their own Opportunity Cultures. Want to know more about an Opportunity Culture? Watch this 20-minute speech that Bryan Hassel–co-director of Public Impact–gave to the 2014 N.C. Emerging Issues Forum, where he explained why sustainably funded career paths are critical to the future of the profession.

Thursday’s announcement that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District is scaling up its use of Opportunity Culture models that extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within budget, got some attention. CMS school design teams, which include teachers and school leaders, will integrate the new models into 17 more schools this year, and more schools will join the implementation in each of the two years after that, with almost half of the district’s schools implementing by 2017–18. Read all about it!

“Belk Foundation gives $505,000 to create big rewards for star teachers” by Charlotte Observer reporter Ann Doss Helms

“More CMS Schools To Give Star Teachers New Duties, Higher Pay,” by WFAE reporter Lisa Miller

“Raises for teachers willing to help redefine how students learn” by WBTV reporter Kristen Miranda

“CMS to expand program which financially rewards top teachers” by WSOC reporter Torie Wells

Worth noting from those reports:

From WFAE:

“This position allowed me to have a comparable salary to [other jobs I’ve been offered outside the classroom], but also stay with kids, which is where my heart is and where my passion is. It’s keeping me in a bunch of classrooms, which is great.”–Kristin Cubbage, a multi-classroom leader at Ashley Park Elementary, one of four Charlotte schools implementing the new models this year.

From WSOC:

“We think [teachers] deserve more — we think they deserve more pay, we think they deserve respect, more support.”–Katie Morris, chairwoman of The Belk Foundation, a local family foundation, which made a rare, three-year commitment of $505,000 to help fund the transition costs of the redesign work, after which the models will be financially sustainable.

From The Charlotte Observer:

“I have loved this job. It really is kind of a dream job in education.”–Cubbage