Public Impact has released a new suite of tools that guide districts and schools to achieve excellence in teaching and learning as Opportunity Culture schools.
The tools are based on four years of data that illuminate what school designs and implementation actions work, and what do not, to achieve strong student learning and teacher satisfaction.
Opportunity Culture schools aim to reach many more students with excellent teachers, for more pay, without increasing costs-while providing much more support to all teachers. These schools aim for “Excellence for All”: high growth and advanced thinking skills for all students, allowing them to close gaps, improve their thinking skills, and leap ahead.
School-Level Design Tools
School Design Map: This map helps schools choose advanced teaching roles and implement them in the right grades and subjects to achieve student and teacher success like high-growth Opportunity Culture schools. The map guides model choices and decisions about the speed of implementation, considering the school’s students, teaching staff, recruiting power, and funding. Every school redesigning staff roles should start here.
School Plan Review: This checklist reviews each school’s plan for fidelity to the five Opportunity Culture Principles and other factors important to student learning and teacher satisfaction. Teachers and staff need strong school plans to support their success with more students.
School Implementation Review: This checklist, a companion to the School Plan Review, provides a check-up on plan implementation, including more factors important to student learning and teacher satisfaction. Implementation strength helps teachers and staff achieve high growth and other positive outcomes with more students.
District-Level Tool
District Implementation Review: This rubric assesses the fidelity and strength of a district’s policies and actions important to teacher effectiveness and student learning in schools with advanced teaching roles. A district’s policies greatly affect the effectiveness, stability, and number of advanced teaching roles in a district and in each school. Principals, teachers, and school staff need strong district support to achieve success with more students.
School and District Tool
The Opportunity Culture Principles:
This web page and two-page guide explain how the Opportunity Culture Principles help schools ensure that roles extending the reach of excellent teachers (and principals) to more students, and to their colleagues, are sustainable and effective.
