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Public Impact®’s Op-Ed: Be Bold on Teacher Pay

May 6, 2014

Public Impact’s co-directors, Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel, have a message for North Carolina’s leaders in their op-ed published in The (Raleigh, N.C.) News and Observer: To transform this state, aim higher.

The Hassels’ op-ed, “N.C. must be bold on increasing teacher pay,” calls for “audacious, achievable goals”: Noting the Opportunity Culture work being done in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to improve teachers’ jobs and pay them more, the Hassels call on North Carolina’s leaders to transform the state by extending that work and focusing on needed priority and policy changes that would create a surge in student learning, grow the state’s economy, and increase teachers’ career earnings.

More coming soon from Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture work: Watch for an announcement on the second N.C. district to join Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in the Opportunity Culture initiative (see more about an Opportunity Culture in other districts here), and watch for a policy brief next week detailing the economic benefits to North Carolina and its teachers discussed in the op-ed.

Project L.I.F.T. Videos Tell Their Opportunity Culture® Story

May 1, 2014

Do you know teachers eager for a job full of opportunities to reach more students on empowered, teacher-led teams, and to earn more–potentially a lot more? Watch short videos about Project L.I.F.T.’s implementation of Opportunity Culture school models here and here. Project L.I.F.T. is hiring now for the 2014-15 school year.

Charlotte’s Project L.I.F.T. zone of high-need schools was the nation’s first pilot of Opportunity Culture school models that extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within budget.

Teachers get on-the-job development led by outstanding peers who are responsible for their teams’ improvement and student outcomes. L.I.F.T is also reaching out to Teach for America alumni who want to stay in the classroom and advance their careers while continuing to teach. TFA has been a critical source of teaching staff in these traditionally hard-to-staff schools.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is scaling up its Opportunity Culture schools as part of its Student Success by Design initiative. Nearly half of the district’s schools are expected to adopt these models by 2017–18. Each school has its own design team of teachers and administrators who work within the five Opportunity Culture Principles to select and combine models and determine implementation details that reflect the goals, values, and needs of each school. The overarching goals: 1) reach far more students with excellent teaching, every year, and 2) provide their teachers with outstanding, sustainably funded career advancement and development opportunities.

The district’s schools outside the L.I.F.T. zone will soon be recruiting for similar positions.

How can your district or organization help schools build an Opportunity Culture? Look throughout OpportunityCulture.org for information and free tools.

Don’t forget to check out L.I.F.T.’s videos to see how teachers, administrators, and kids feel about it.

 

 

Syracuse, N.Y., Schools Join Opportunity Culture® Initiative

March 7, 2014

Four of the highest-need schools in the Syracuse City School District, New York’s fifth-largest district, are using teacher-led teams to design new staffing models for their struggling schools to use in fall 2014. These school models extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within budget.

The schools join the national Opportunity Culture initiative, which includes schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Metro Nashville, and additional districts to be announced soon. School design teams will adapt and implement Opportunity Culture models, created by Public Impact, that use job redesign and age- and child-appropriate technology to reach more students with excellence. Education First, which has extensive experience facilitating collaborative change in district schools, is assisting the schools in making the transition to the new models.

Syracuse wants to become the most improved urban district in America. More than three-quarters of Syracuse students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, in a city where more than 44 percent of children under 18 live in poverty. System leaders know great teachers are the key to changing the odds for these students, and paying them more and letting them lead while teaching is essential to attract and keep them in Syracuse.

“The Teacher is the Cornerstone”

March 5, 2014

“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.”

Listen to the Teachers!

February 27, 2014

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.

In the News: Charlotte’s Opportunity Culture® Expansion

January 10, 2014

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

From WBTV:

“We plan to roll this out to the rest of our CMS buildings. The question is not if, it is when.”–Superintendent Heath Morrison

Charlotte to expand Opportunity Culture® to almost half its schools

January 9, 2014

We have exciting news today, with potentially big implications for teachers and students: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) announced a scale-up of its use of Opportunity Culture models that extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams to more students, for more pay, within budget. The Belk Foundation, a local family foundation, announced a rare, three-year commitment to fund the redesign work, after which the models will be financially sustainable.

For far too long, the field has relied on unsustainably funded career paths. “Sustainable” equaled “We’ll apply for another grant.” This has limited opportunities to districts with superior grant-writing abilities, not the many more with committed, capable leaders who truly want to help more children learn and more teachers excel. With sustainable models, CMS—and other districts that follow its lead—can make a long-term promise to current and prospective teachers, rather than snatching back extra pay, and the roles it funds, after a few years.

Our team at Public Impact will partner with Education Resource Strategies to help schools select and adapt models that reallocate funds to pay teachers more for taking responsibility for more students’ learning, directly and by leading teaching teams in fully accountable leadership roles. Together, we will also help school teams, all of which include teachers, increase on-the-job planning and development time, and provide for flexible scheduling and grouping.

In fall 2013, four schools within the Project L.I.F.T. zone of high-need CMS schools began implementing Opportunity Culture models, which we developed in consultation with teachers nationwide from organizations including Teach Plus and Educators 4 Excellence.

Now, CMS school design teams that 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. The Belk Foundation will fund transition costs with a grant of $505,000, one of the foundation’s largest ever.

In the News: Paid Student Teachers in Nashville

September 27, 2013

NewsChannel5 profiles the paid student teachers program at Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary, one of the Opportunity Culture pilot schools in the Metro Nashville Public Schools’ iZone. Hailey Hunt, one of 12 “aspiring teachers,” discusses why this model for student teaching pleases her.

Why ALL Teachers Need an Opportunity Culture®–A Refreshed Vision

September 25, 2013

After decades of reform efforts, have any of the players in education really gotten what they want? Teachers still don’t get the respect and substantial rewards they deserve, and students haven’t seen big leaps in achievement. Public Impact Co-Directors Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel see a new way forward–one that focuses on excellent teachers, but takes us to a brighter future for everyone. In An Opportunity Culture for All: Making Teaching a Highly Paid, High-Impact Profession, the Hassels update their vision of an Opportunity Culture, showing how extending the reach of great teachers can start a virtuous cycle of excellence and higher pay for all teachers.

Strong Results at New Higher-Paying, Reach-Extending Charter

July 9, 2013

What do you get when you combine an experienced charter school leader with a new model that mixes multi-classroom leaders and blended learning in a high-need school? At charter management organization Touchstone Education, you get nimble teachers, quick to adjust their models as needed, and some great student results.

“We have learned that the one most important thing we can do to positively impact the learning of a child is to consistently provide them with a great teacher,” says Ben Rayer, Touchstone’s founder and CEO, and former president of Mastery Charter Schools. “In our model, we have reframed what teachers do and how they are developed.”

Touchstone opened its first site in fall 2012, Merit Preparatory Charter School in Newark, N.J. The school started small, with 84 sixth-graders, so it could quickly adjust and learn from its efforts. In its first year, with a student population that is 90 percent low-income and was generally several years behind grade level, Merit Prep Newark showed great growth in reading and science: By March 2013 tests, students already demonstrated two years of growth in reading and 1.25 years of growth in science.