Frequently Asked Questions

In 2009, Public Impact®, a national education policy and management firm, published a paper calling for more teachers to have paid, advanced roles while continuing to teach, in order to reach all students with excellent teaching. In 2012–13, the first two districts in the nation designed their Opportunity Culture® models, adhering to the five Opportunity Culture® principles, which call for teams of teachers and school leaders to choose and tailor models to:

1. Reach more students with excellent teachers and their teams;
2. Pay teachers more for extending their reach;
3. Fund pay within regular budgets;
4. Provide protected in-school time and clarity about how to use it for planning, collaboration, and development; &
5. Match authority and accountability to each person’s responsibilities.

More sites use these models every year; see OpportunityCulture.org for details and results. Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia are among the states with participating districts.

Research shows large student learning gains associated with Multi-Classroom Leader® teams. Third-party studies have found that, on average, teachers who joined these teams moved from producing 50th percentile student learning growth to 77th percentile student learning growth. These gains equate to an extra half-year of learning for students each year, on average—just from having this leader, who has demonstrated prior high learning growth, lead the team. In one study, the nearly 2,000 English learners taught by Opportunity Culture® teams had even larger reading gains—meaning an extra 1.3 years of learning compared with other English learners.

The following schools are the first few  schools to have implemented Opportunity Culture® roles or are in the design process for implementation next year:

• Decker Elementary
• ShadowGlen Elementary
• and Decker Middle School

We have a rigorous selection process that focuses on competencies, taking into account our mission and school fit. It includes a pre-screening that considers your submitted data that shows your record of success with student achievement, followed by interviews from leaders of a specific school.

A team of teachers and administrators in each school adopts the Opportunity Culture® roles that best fit their school’s needs, to reach more students with teachers who have produced high-growth student learning; the district team figures out scheduling and how to pay for the roles as well.

Busy and rewarding! A typical day in the Multi-Classroom Leader® role may include direct instruction with students, co-teaching, coaching, modeling instruction for teachers, planning with teachers, and data analysis, observation, and feedback. These team leaders are granted much schedule flexibility, but expected to plan their schedules carefully to focus on what will make the most impact on student achievement. For more, watch this video!

Educators in the Multi-Classroom Leader® role are responsible for the results of all the students on their team. They are evaluated under the T-TESS teacher evaluation along with an evaluation specifically for this role.

These teachers on Multi-Classroom Leader® teams directly teach more students than usual, but typically without raising instructional group sizes, and receive a pay supplement. Some may be Master Team Reach Teachers™, who have a track record of high-growth student learning and assist with leading a larger team. They may coach one or more other teachers on the team and teach significantly more students. Advanced paraprofessionals help avoid raising instructional group sizes by having students rotate through a learning lab or by pushing in/pulling out students at the direction of the team leader to provide tutoring to small groups or individuals or small groups and support students while they work on projects, skills practice, and digital learning.

These teachers are responsible for the results of the expanded number of students they teach and are otherwise evaluated under the T-TESS teacher evaluation, as well as a specific evaluation for the MTRT role. 

A master team reach teacher’s day is similar to a typical classroom teacher’s schedule, but with more collaborative planning and data analysis time—no more teaching in isolation, but a day full of support instead. 

This is an advanced paraprofessional role. These paraprofessionals take on greater levels of responsibility to support teachers with instruction. They provide release time and tutor small groups in a learning lab or by pushing in or pulling out students from the team’s classrooms, as directed by the team leader. They also support students while they work on projects, skills practice, and digital learning, and support the team on other noninstructional tasks, but their main focus is small-group tutoring.  They also must have some classroom management skills to supervise students independently. They do not create lesson plans, but implement team plans. They may provide input for lesson plans based on their observations and data gathered on student performance. For more about this crucial role, watch this video!