1. Opportunity Culture Texas:
Reimagine, Redesign
This presentation will provide you with an introduction to Opportunity Culture Texas.
(Introduce yourself and your role in connection to OC-TX. As time/situation permits, have audience introduce themselves.)

2. What is Opportunity Culture Texas?
͏Innovative turnaround effort to extend the reach of excellent teachers
͏Career advancement for teachers–without leaving the classroom, for more pay
͏Sustainable change–funded within current budgets
Opportunity Culture Texas is not a program, it is a shift in the way we do the business of schools. Guided by consultants through a design process, schools consider new ways to leverage their primary resources: people, money, and time.
(Go over points on the slide- additional comments which might be used for each bullet are below.)
It is an innovative turnaround effort to extend the reach of excellent teachers. OC-TX provides career advancement opportunities for teachers without moving into a formal administrative role.
Those that love to teach have the opportunity for career advancement as they take on new responsibilities and earn more for doing so.
Unlike other initiatives, OC-TX is funded within current district and campus budgets. There is no need to seek additional funding from grants, philanthropic donations, or other sources. The increased pay for excellent teachers in new roles is sustainable over time.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact 2016

3. Benefits of an Opportunity Culture
Increased retention of excellent teachers
Increased recruitment potential
Job-embedded professional development
Increased planning/collaboration time
Ongoing real-time support for teachers
Increased student access to excellent teaching
Opportunity Culture has many benefits. Actualizing these benefits will be dependent on developing a solid school design based on the OC principles.
Which of these benefits would be most important to your district/charter/campus?
(Allow time for discussion.)
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact 2016

4. Opportunity Culture Principles
Teams of teachers and school leaders must choose and tailor models to:
Reach more students with excellent teachers and their teams
Pay teachers more for extending their reach
Fund pay within regular budgets
Provide protected in-school time and clarity about how to use it for planning, collaboration, and development
Match authority and accountability to each person’s responsibilities
Although there is a great deal of flexibility within OC-TX to design plans that best meet your school’s needs, all schools that implement Opportunity Culture Texas adhere to these principles. We will always filter decisions for your school through these principles to ensure alignment.
Which of these principles excite you? Raise questions?
(Allow time for discussion.)
 OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact 2016

5. How Do Schools Extend the Reach of Excellent Teachers?
Principle #1 and goal #1 for OC-TX is to assist you in designing for and implementing roles to extend the reach of excellent teachers that will impact more students.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact 2016

6. Two Ways to Extend the Reach of Excellent Teachers
Direct Reach
Teach more students with support from either technology or a paraprofessional
Indirect Reach
Give feedback and coach team teachers
Co-teach and model with team teachers
Lead, co-plan, and collect/analyze data for teaching team
That reach in principal #1 is achieved in 2 ways- through direct and indirect reach.
(Go over information on the slide. Additional comments which might be included are below.)
The Direct Reach teacher is a teacher with a history of excellence who, by choice, takes on more students. This does not necessarily increase adult to student ratio. Part of the planning process is to help schools design models that will leverage schedules, people, and technology to make this happen.
The Indirect Reach teacher is also a teacher with a history of excellence who takes on a leadership role supporting other adults, yet still works with students for a portion of the day. This might be as a “teacher of record” for a portion of the day, or working with small groups, or through co-teaching. An Indirect Reach teacher maintains their credibility by maintaining responsibility for students and being a part of the teaching team rather than solely in what might be viewed as a supervisory role.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact 2015

7. Opportunity Culture Models
Opportunity Culture Texas is not an “off-the-shelf” initiative that can be applied unilaterally across sites. OC-TX is an opportunity to design a plan to extend the reach of excellent teachers in a way that specifically meets the needs of the individual districts/campuses….based on YOUR data. OC-TX districts across the state likely won’t look exactly the same, nor will campuses within the same district have exactly the same staffing patterns. The flexibility within OC-TX is one of the beauties of the initiative.
Here you will see some of the suggested models to use as starting points for your school design. These models can be mixed and matched in lots of different ways. You might think of other ideas and possibilities as well. As long as they match the OC principles, those options can also be considered in your district/charter/campus plans.
Each school selects models, or combinations of models, to meet their specific local needs.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact 2016

8. Multi-Classroom Leadership
One of the most popular models is Multi-classroom leadership.
Multi-classroom leaders are excellent teachers that extend their reach by coordinating and collaborating with a small group of teachers. Unlike a traditional instructional coaching model, the MCL remains in the classroom, directly teaching a group of students for part of the day, and has a much smaller “case load,” supporting 2-8 teachers focusing on a specific area of identified need. MCLs also have dedicated time to work with the teachers on their team, planning, observing, modeling, and so forth, extending their reach indirectly to more students.
This model often utilizes a paraprofessional as part of the team to supervise non-instructional activities, creating the time for the MCL to carry out other responsibilities. The multi-classroom leadership model is the quickest way to extend the reach of excellent teachers, supporting both adult and student growth on the campus.
(NOTE: For initial introductory presentations, this might be the only model shared. The following hidden slides on other models are there as needed.)
Teachers with leadership skills both teach and lead teams of teachers and assistants by sharing strategies and best practices.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact

9. Specialization
(NOTE: For initial introductory presentations, you may want to only share Multi-Classroom Leadership. These hidden slides on other models are there as needed.)
This model places the excellent teacher in front of many classrooms of students and is especially productive in high-priority subjects.
The difference with specialization and departmentalization is the teacher is selected based on their expertise and prior evidence of success in the specific subject matter and a significantly increased student load, which can be accomplished in a variety of ways– innovative scheduling, increased class sizes, or through blended learning.
It may also be implemented in a situation where elementary classrooms are self-contained with the exception of the subjects for which an excellent teacher is identified.
Excellent teachers specialize in high-priority subjects and serve significantly more students.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact

10. Time-Technology Swap
(NOTE: For initial introductory presentations, you may want to only share Multi-Classroom Leadership. These hidden slides on other models are there as needed.)
This model includes a blended learning component where students receive direct instruction from an excellent teacher and also engage in age-appropriate digital learning supervised by a paraprofessional, which allows the teacher to work with another group of students.
Time-Technology swaps are frequently used in conjunction with the Multi-Classroom Leader option.
Students spend part of the day engaged in age- and child-appropriate digital learning, freeing the excellent teacher to reach more students.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact

11. Remote Teaching
(NOTE: For initial introductory presentations, you may want to only share Multi-Classroom Leadership. These hidden slides on other models are there as needed.)
In this model the excellent teacher can instruct multiple groups of students remotely, either in real-time or on-demand. On-site teammates, often highly skilled paraprofessionals who plan with and are trained by the excellent teacher, manage administrative duties and keep students engaged.
The excellent teacher could be from within the campus, at another campus in the district, or from across the country.
This model is especially helpful for hard-to-staff specialized positions or for remote locations.
Remote teachers use technology to provide live or on-demand instruction to multiple classrooms simultaneously.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact

12. Increased Student Load
(NOTE: For initial introductory presentations, you may want to only share Multi-Classroom Leadership. These hidden slides on other models are there as needed.)
Increasing student loads for excellent teachers (by choice, and with increased compensation) is a possibility. However, it is never recommended as the sole component of a campus design as it does not increase teacher collaboration and professional growth.
Increases in the number of students for a teacher of record is possible without increasing the adult to student ratio. Excellent teachers in these roles could work in conjunction with a paraprofessional to keep adult to student ratios low, or the excellent teacher could have an alternate schedule to serve more groups of students rather than larger groups of students.
Excellent teachers (by choice and with increased compensation) take on larger student loads. It is possible to increase students served by excellent teachers without increasing adult-to-student ratios.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact 2016

13. Where is Opportunity Culture?
OC-TX is a part of a national network of schools thinking innovatively about campus design.
(Share a few of the schools in Texas: Big Spring ISD in West TX, Mineral Wells ISD near Fort Worth, Spring Branch ISD in the Houston area, and Harlandale ISD and South San ISD in the San Antonio area. Mention a few of the schools around the country implementing OC- Syracuse, NY; Charlotte-Meckelenberg, NC; Fulton County, GA; Maricopa County, AZ. NOTE: These schools are as of September 2017.)

14. What are Some of the Results of Opportunity Culture Implementation?
Principle #1 and goal #1 for OC-TX is to assist you in designing for and implementing roles to extend the reach of excellent teachers that will impact more students.
Adapted from OpportunityCulture.org; Copyright Public Impact 2016

15. North Carolina 2016 Accountability
59%
46%
30%
28%
11%

16. First Grade Reading: Big Spring ISD 2015-16
Ultimately, our goal is to impact the students we see every day.
This is the story of one Texas district who implemented OC-TX in school year. These results represent student growth from September-May, and compares results between campuses implementing multi-classroom leadership roles at 1st grade level and campuses not implementing OC-TX with 1st grade within the same district.
Same district- same population, same available resources. OC-TX schools used those resources in a way to create more time and support for teachers.
(click through data)

17. What Implementing Texas Schools Say
“Love this model It’s exactly what we need to support the many teachers we have that are in need. I can’t possibly imagine our schools without them.”
“I feel our campus has MCLs that truly want the teachers to be effective and are willing to do anything to support the teachers.”
“Our campus couldn’t function without our MCLs!”

18. For more information about Opportunity Culture Texas contact us at:
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