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Welcome to this edition of the Opportunity Culture® Newsletter! Opportunity Culture® portal subscribers receive these newsletters automatically as part of their district’s portal benefits (log in here). Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Join our mailing list here!
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Ed prep programs: Don't miss the free certification option below!
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OPPORTUNITY CULTURE® AUDIOFor Louisiana District, HQIM + Opportunity Culture® Teams Sparks Early Wins |
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Multi-Classroom Leader® Lourdes Acot teaches first grade at Wright Elementary School in Madison Parish, LA |
When Charlie Butler returned to his hometown to become superintendent of the Madison Parish School District in northeastern Louisiana, he was looking for innovative ways to help the persistently low-performing system. With help from a state “instructional coherence cohort,” the district combined the support of Opportunity Culture® teaching teams with a focus on the implementation of high-quality instructional materials to address longstanding issues—and quickly started to see successes for both students and educators. In this podcast, district and state leaders describe how they worked together to make it happen. Learn how they helped students leap 30 percentile points in a key reading assessment.
“It’s remarkable to see the growth in the teachers and the way that they approach the work, the way they’re committed to the work… you feel it across the campus.”
—Jesse Unkel, who led the instructional coherence cohort
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| LISTEN
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OPPORTUNITY CULTURE® AUDIO
Superintendents Speak: Vacancies Plummet, Student Results Rocket in Carlsbad, New Mexico |
When Carlsbad Municipal Schools Superintendent Gerry Washburn joined the district, it was facing high teacher vacancies and low student success—and a lot of low morale. A chance conversation with Ector County, Texas, Superintendent Scott Muri showed Washburn a new option—Opportunity Culture® school redesign. With inclusive leadership and a determination to get design and implementation of new staffing roles right, plus a strong district team and principals, Washburn saw state-leading learning results and a 77% decline in vacancies. “I’ve been stunned at the acceleration that we’re
seeing,” he said.
In fact, new state data showed notable results in the schools Washburn discusses in this podcast:
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OPPORTUNITY CULTURE® VIDEOCarlsbad Connections: How Teaching Teams Mesh for Success |
In this new video, teaching team members share how Multi-Classroom Leader®, Master Team Reach Teacher™, and Reach Associate™ roles support one another to drive student success, with their schools in Carlsbad, New Mexico, posting state-leading math and literacy results this year.
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MCL™ Chelsey Kimbley and RA™ Denisse Gamboa co-teach at Desert Willow Elementary in Carlsbad, N.M. |
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WEBSITEOpportunity Culture® Stats
More, more, more! More teachers, more students, more pay, more growth! See the latest Opportunity Culture® statistics on our new webpage for an overview of the difference you and your schools make as Opportunity Culture® teams reach more students and teachers every year.
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255K+
Students
reached in 24-25
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9800K+
Teachers
on teams in 24-25
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$107M
Extra Pay
as of 24-25
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+2–7
Months
extra learning/year
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BLOG
So You Got High Learning Growth—Now What?As learning growth results continue to come in across the U.S. for the 2024–25 year, educators in many high-growth schools may find their celebrations tinged with an edge of dread. They and their students worked so hard for their results—but what now?
Many organizations, not just schools, find sustaining high performance just as hard as achieving it. In schools, the challenges include:
Most students achieved high growth, but teachers teaching the same students next year do not have materials differentiated for more high growth.
Teachers didn’t have curricula with differentiated lessons—they and their teaching teams made it happen with a lot of work that doesn’t feel doable year over year.
Some students, despite schoolwide or team-wide high growth, still struggled.
Schools and teachers need to keep up the growth while also attending to needs of the “whole child” and “whole adult”?
For some solutions, think ABC—go to the full post to learn more, and see more posts!
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Huge congratulations to the many schools that achieved high growth schoolwide using Opportunity Culture® designs and their Multi-Classroom Leader® teams! Read more about results in North Carolina and listen to Opportunity Culture® Audio.
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PAID RESIDENCIESEducator Prep Programs May Now Obtain Certified Opportunity Culture™ Career Prep Pathway Status—
And Educators Earning Degrees and Licensure Can Claim it On Their Resumes!
Starting in January 2026, Public Impact will begin conferring Certified Opportunity Culture™ Career Prep Pathway status on educator preparation programs that place paid residents and apprentices, or provide licensure to new teachers, in schools with Certified Opportunity Culture School® status.
We are excited to recognize programs that place residents, apprentices, and others in schools with Multi-Classroom Leader® teams, which have been proven to significantly increase teacher effectiveness in producing student learning.
Providers, school systems, and schools may use the certification to help attract aspiring educators, and these aspiring educators should share the placements on their resumes to highlight how they learned how to teach on the job from the nation’s best educators!
The first certifications will be announced and posted on OpportunityCulture.org in early 2026, and early birds will receive extra social media “love” just in time for Valentine’s Day in February 2026.
We will publish free guidance to help ed prep providers craft outstanding residencies, as well, but programs will have significant design flexibility. Recognized programs and pathways will include at least these: registered teacher apprenticeships; residencies for those working toward bachelor’s degrees; education master’s degrees—including MSAs; post-bachelor’s licensure; select internships and fellowships.
Providers: Fill out this short interest form to learn more about how to sign up for this free certification, which has a short list of specific, minimal requirements.
School system leaders: Systems may also earn this status if conferring licensure to teachers on the job, either alone or with a partner higher education institution—fill out the short interest form to learn more.
Aspiring educators: If you are obtaining a degree or licensure while working in a school with Certified Opportunity Culture School® status, share this newsletter with your provider, so we can recognize your on-the-job learning early in 2026!
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| FORM
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CERTIFICATIONWelcome to Newly Certified Schools
Certification is underway for the 2025–26 school year, and schools have gotten active in the Opportunity Culture® portal submitting their information! Congratulations to all the schools that have received Certified Opportunity Culture® School status at the provisional level and level 1, and a special congratulations to L.B. Johnson Elementary School in Ector County Independent School
District for reaching level 2 status!
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. 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 about the strength of their instructional system.
See the full list, and check it often for updates with schools you know!
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Certification Webinars
The window is still open to get certified! Need support? Join us for an upcoming certification webinar, where we will walk you through the process, with work time built in.
Why is this worth your time? Schools that go through this process strengthen their implementation by identifying key focus areas for improvement—and their results speak for themselves: North Carolina schools with Certified Opportunity Culture School® status were two to three times more likely to exceed learning growth expectations in 2024–25 than schools not using Opportunity Culture® staffing
design.
Click the links below to register!
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New option: Watch the webinar. Can’t make it to one of the live webinars? We now have a recording of the webinar available on the Opportunity Culture® portal that you can watch anytime, to walk you through the steps. Find it in the portal’s Design room.
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| PORTAL
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DECEMBER UPDATESThis Month in Opportunity Culture® CertificationCTE Course Update
As technology and AI continue to shape jobs and higher education, and on-the-job learning becomes ever more valuable, schools using Opportunity Culture® design have another option to highlight their supports for student learning!
Schools may now indicate that CTE courses are part of their core subjects when asserting for Certified Opportunity Culture School® status.
For example, computer programming or biotech CTE courses may be counted as science.
If your school is using Multi-Classroom Leader® teams for CTE courses that could reasonably be considered part of one of the four core subjects, you may include these courses in your percentage of students reached in the relevant core subjects!
Why this change? The Opportunity Culture® team at Public Impact® works to refine school design each year to fit the needs of students and their communities, boosting learning and pay for long-term success for all.
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This Month in the Opportunity Culture® Portal
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The annual, anonymous educator survey is around the corner—share your feedback!
For all schools nationwide that use Opportunity Culture® models, the survey window will be open from January 12th through March 31st, and districts can select any window within those dates to have their schools take the survey. In preparation, district leaders are now able to navigate to the portal's Monitor room by January 12 to select their district's survey window dates. Participating school leaders can prepare by navigating to the OC™ survey tab in the Monitor room to enter instructional staff counts by January 12 to monitor participation progress accurately.
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EVENTS
Register for Upcoming PL Session
Considering taking your teaching career to the next level? If you’re a high-performing teacher interested in team leadership, check out the free, virtual information session about the Aspiring Multi-Classroom Leader® Academy!
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The session will provide an overview of
the Multi-Classroom Leader® role, the Opportunity Culture® model, and their results in schools. You’ll learn about the academy's curriculum and the skills you'll develop, and hear from experienced facilitators who can answer your questions, so you can decide if the Aspiring Multi-Classroom Leader® Academy is right for you.
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Register today for this free session on January 14, 2026, from 4:35-5:30 p.m. ET.
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Other Upcoming Events |
December 2025
10–11 District-Level Staffing Design Workshop, 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. ET | Register
10 Navigating the OC™ Certification Process, 12:00 p.m. ET | FREE | Register
11 Opportunity Culture® Info Session, 1:00–1:45 p.m. ET | FREE | Register
11 Office Hours for Teacher-Leaders, 4:05–5:00 p.m. ET | Register*
18 Office Hours for RA™ Paraprofessionals, 4:05–5:00 p.m. ET | Register*
January 2026
14 Aspiring MCL™ Academy Info Session, 4:35 –5:30 p.m. ET | FREE | Register
15 Opportunity Culture® Info Session, 1:00–1:45 p.m. ET | FREE | Register
15 School-Year PL Midyear Review, 4:05–6:00 p.m. ET | Register*
27 Navigating the OC™ Certification Process, 4:00 p.m. ET | FREE | Register
28 NASDTEC National Convening on Registered Apprenticeships in Teaching
29 Site Visit to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 8:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m. ET | Register
*Educators with Opportunity Culture® portal accounts should log in there to register
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RESOURCES
Tools You Need Now |
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The following terms are registered trademarks: Opportunity Culture®, Public Impact®, Multi-Classroom Leader®, and Certified Opportunity Culture School®. We thank sites using Opportunity Culture® models for adhering to trademark usage standards, signaling to the public that they are using data-proven models to
dramatically increase student learning and boost teacher satisfaction.
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To stay up to date on all Opportunity Culture® happenings—new resources, news stories, new Opportunity Culture® districts, and more—follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Bluesky—and if you’re posting, use #OpportunityCulture, @OppCulture, or @PublicImpact, and we’ll retweet/share your comments!
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The Public Impact® mission is to improve education dramatically for all students—especially students whose needs have not been well met. We are a team of professionals from many backgrounds, including former teachers and principals. We are researchers, thought leaders, tool builders, and on-the-ground consultants who work with leading education reformers. To learn more, please visit www.publicimpact.com.
This newsletter was made possible in part by supporters of the Opportunity Culture® initiative. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of Public Impact®.
© 2025 Public Impact®/Opportunity Culture®
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Public Impact, 405 East Main Street, Carrboro, North Carolina 27510, United States
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