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Welcome to this jam-packed edition of the Opportunity Culture® Newsletter!
Opportunity Culture® portal subscribers receive these newsletters automatically as part of their district’s portal benefits.
Not already subscribed to our mailing list? Join here. |
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PORTAL
New and Improved Opportunity Culture® Portal
With the Opportunity Culture® portal, we’re opening a window for you into the wide world of strategic staffing and tutoring culture design, related professional learning, and tools for monitoring and adjusting designs. Read on for how it can help you—and then join us for a webinar and live demo! |
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Webinar – Your New Tool to Reach All Students: Meet the New Opportunity Culture® Portal
October 3, 3:30–4:30 pm ET
Join us for a live demo of the portal’s features that help you scale up school staffing design and strengthen implementation. Benefit from a Q&A that will help you envision how this tool reduces capacity challenges that might be hampering your district’s effort to reach all students with excellent instruction! |
| REGISTER |
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For educators in schools using Opportunity Culture® models
Districts with a subscription to the Opportunity Culture® portal give educators immediate access to:
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the “Learn Room"—with on-demand professional learning modules and registration for live, virtual professional learning courses; and
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the “Tools Room"—full of instructional and leadership resources and tools.
All a user’s tools are in one place, to quickly spot resources for your own role and see what’s available for your teaching team colleagues. Resources are not limited to teaching team educators—for example, schools building a tutoring culture involve all adults in each school to tutor students, so tutoring resources are on the portal for use by staff throughout schools.
Hear from Public Impact team members in this brief video, "The Opportunity Culture® Portal is a One-Stop Shop." |
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As a former Opportunity Culture® team leader and school leader, I really wish that I would have had the portal at that time because all of the tools that are shared during the design process and professional learning are housed in the tools section.
—Public Impact® Consulting Team Manager Erin Mehigan |
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For district and school teams designing Opportunity Culture® implementation plans
The portal provides a one-stop repository for planning materials and the means to monitor and adjust plans. You can ensure that roles and pay keep pace with other schools nationally, with new research about what boosts student learning and educator satisfaction.
Hear more about the benefits of the "Tools Room" in "Getting New Leaders Up to Speed." |
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The portal houses...all the learning that we have over the years about district design and school design. And so anytime there's a new school leader or new district leader, they can go into the portal and they can learn about Opportunity Culture® design and implementation.
—Public Impact® Senior Manager Megan DeJohn |
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And there’s more portal fun to come!
On September 20, asynchronous design and learning opportunities will make their debut on the portal.
With our Self-Driven Design™ process, teams get step-by-step guidance and on-demand PD to support their Opportunity Culture® planning, leading to a recommendation for a staffing design to fit their context, based on research. A coaching package is also available to add limited, live support.
With our SIMPLE-TC™ tutoring culture framework, teaching team leaders or other teacher-leaders can follow a self-paced course on the portal or join live, virtual sessions to learn how to create a small-group tutoring culture that reaches all students, provided by all available adults within the school. Participants will receive a certificate of completion that can be submitted to their school district to apply for CEU credits.
And team teachers can experience on-demand learning with our Teachers on an Opportunity Culture® Team course. Designed specifically for teachers on MCL™ teams, this course provides comprehensive insights into strategic staffing models and roles on these teams, including their purpose, rationale, and implementation strategies.
Learn more in this brief video, "Giving All Staff Access to Professional Development". |
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"Now all staff have access to the information around the Opportunity Culture® models that are being implemented in your school through design and professional development."
—Public Impact® Senior Consultant Somali White |
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Educators in previous tutoring culture sessions appreciated how the framework would improve student growth results and relationships: |
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“I used to think tutoring was an additional support, but now I know it’s an embedded support!”
“I like that [this framework] speaks to the positive relationship-building among students and teachers!”
“The most impactful part was seeing how scheduling can be accomplished to reach more students.” |
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Why are we so excited about the Opportunity Culture® portal? |
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For 15 years, our vision has been to give all students access to excellent teaching consistently by helping educators redesign their roles, time, pay, and budgets for the higher-paid career advancement opportunities they deserve—without leaving classrooms and schools. After over a decade of data and experience collaborating with educators in dozens of systems across 12 states—and research showing strong educator satisfaction and student learning boosts—our team is now bringing data-driven tools and advice directly to educators and schools nationwide, for a low cost. The Opportunity Culture® portal is designed to do just that. Please join this movement to help students and adults learn more, and earn more, boosting economies across the country, sustainably within budget—for the long haul. We hope you will engage and give us your feedback!
—Public Impact Co-Presidents Bryan Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel |
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Emily Ayscue Hassel |
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Bryan Hassel |
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SURVEY
Celebrating Strong Educator Support for Opportunity Culture® Models! |
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Every year, educators in all schools using Opportunity Culture® models are asked to respond to a survey—check out a few of the 2023–24 results below that show nearly unanimous support from educators in the Multi-Classroom Leader™ role for their school’s implementation!
98% say: this staffing model has increased student achievement at their school.
97% say: teachers receive feedback that can help them improve teaching; supports translate to improvements in instructional practices, and the school’s staffing model has improved teacher effectiveness.
96% say: teachers are held to high professional standards for delivering instruction; excellent teachers have opportunities to lead peers; pay opportunities are better than they would be without this staffing model; the staffing model positively impacts staff collaboration (and 94% say the model has had a positive impact on the school’s staff culture). |
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SPOTLIGHT
Teach Plus Spotlights Carlsbad Municipal Schools
Check out this report from Teach Plus, highlighting P.R. Leyva Middle School in Carlsbad Municipal Schools in New Mexico (see page 17). From the report: |
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“After implementing Opportunity Culture® staffing design], summer school rates at P.R. Leyva dropped by 39 percent from the 2022-2023 school year to the 2023-2024 school year, indicating a significant reduction in the number of students requiring additional academic support over the summer. Furthermore, the NWEA End of Year (EOY) data showed substantial academic growth among students.
In English, 37 percent of 7th grade students and 47.5 percent of 6th grade students demonstrated growth of 1.5 years or more...Similarly, in math, 44 percent of 7th grade students and 46 percent of 6th grade students achieved growth of 1.5 years or more. ...
Through its work, the school realized the importance of collaboration and of recognizing and leveraging each individual’s strengths. The school’s current approach fosters teams that work together effectively, support each other, and share strengths. The school also learned the value of optimizing classroom spaces to support individualized and small group learning. Removing traditional teacher desks in favor of kidney tables allowed for more dynamic and personalized teaching methods. This change led to a deeper understanding of student cultures and learning styles, enabling teachers to tailor their instruction more effectively.” |
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WEBINARS
Free Webinars
We have fall webinars in the works! Keep an eye out for educator-focused webinars later this month or next. And don’t miss the portal webinar noted above (register here).
Meanwhile watch these recent webinars on our website: |
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From Reflection to Planning to Launch: A 3-Part Series on How Educators Prep for a New Year
As your school year starts, do you need any last-minute boosts for a successful launch? Check out the recordings of our three-part summer series: When great educators launch a new school year well, what was behind the scenes of that success? Proven educators and teaching team leaders take viewers from the previous spring, when they reviewed hits and misses, to using that data to set themselves up for planning and launching the next year. They shared how they do this themselves as well as lead their team to a successful launch for students. |
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Small teaching teams aim to provide every educator with a great coach in the Multi-Classroom Leader™ role. What can administrators do to support these teacher-leaders in their new coaching roles? Watch this webinar recorded in June presenting three keys to achieving widespread but personalized coaching and a platform to support it. Special guest Casey Jackson of North Carolina’s Vance County Schools discussed her previous coaching experience as a team leader and her current role as a district administrator responsible for the success of educators in that role, joined by Krissy Fisher and Hannah Schuele of SchoolMint, creator of the SchoolMint Grow teacher coaching platform. Many thanks to all our panelists! |
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SITE VISITS
Thinking about using Opportunity Culture® concepts? Join a site visit!
What do schools using Opportunity Culture® strategic staffing models look like? See for yourself in a one-day site visit to observe Multi-Classroom Leader™ teams in action!
Gather a team from your district or go solo. Site visits begin with an introductory session, to hear from your district hosts, followed by visits to an elementary and/or secondary school implementing Multi-Classroom Leader™ teaching teams, interacting with and observing school leaders and Opportunity Culture® educators in action, and ending with a guided working session to relate the day’s information to your own needs. |
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2024–25 site visits:
September 25: Wilson County Schools, North Carolina
November 6: Midland Independent School District, Texas
November 7: Ector County Independent School District, Texas
February 27: Carlsbad Municipal School District, New Mexico
March 5: Winchester Public Schools, Virginia |
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Register today—space is limited! |
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EVENTS
Check out our Upcoming Events
Visit our events webpage to register for upcoming events, including school staffing design professional learning and site visits, educator professional learning, and free webinars. |
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September Events
9/5 Opportunity Culture® Info Session: 1:00–1:45 p.m. ET — FREE
9/12 Master the SIMPLE-TC™ Framework: Effective Small-Group Instruction for All Students
9/17 Essential Skills for Beginning Teacher-Leaders
9/18 Foundational Skills for Reach Associate™ Success
9/19 Continuing Your Teacher-Leader Journey: Advanced Skills (Year 2+)
9/19 National District Leader Community of Practice
9/20 Distributed Leadership for School Leaders
9/23 Site Visit: Wilson County Schools, North Carolina |
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FREE RESOURCES
Tools You Need Now
Do you know about the instructional leadership and excellence resources on the Opportunity Culture® website? Check it out as the school year begins!
This section of the site offers curated resources to carry you throughout the year on critical elements of instructional leadership and excellence for teachers, educators in the Multi-Classroom Leader™ role and other teacher-leaders, and principals. Find video clips of teacher-leaders and principals who have achieved high-growth student learning, discussion questions, study guides, and tools for your team and yourself! |
Are you a new Opportunity Culture® educator?
You can check out previous newsletters here, and the blog highlights our new audio, video, and written publications. |
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Featured Social Media
Keep up with Opportunity Culture® news and sites around the country—follow our posts on LinkedIn, Instagram, and other platforms! And don’t forget to tag us so we can highlight your great work. |
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