To reach more students with excellent instruction, multi-classroom leaders (MCLs) lead small teams of teachers, and multi-school leaders (MSLs) lead small teams of principals. MCLs and MSLs are paid more, within their schools' regular budgets, and are selected for their record of leadership and excellence in achieving high-growth student learning.…

Data about the teaching profession in Indiana make clear the potential for a full-blown public crisis unless policymakers take decisive action this year. Indiana teacher pay dropped 15 percent between 2000 and 2017 when adjusted for inflation, moving from $59,986 to $50,554--and Indiana teachers earn 17 percent less than college graduates in other…

In 2012, Touchstone Education opened its first school, Merit Preparatory Charter School of Newark ("Merit Prep Newark"), in New Jersey, with 84 sixth-graders, 90 percent of whom are low-income, with most entering Merit Prep several years behind grade level. In reading and science, Merit Prep Newark has shown strong early results in its…

In this summary, authors and co-directors of "Public Impact," Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel, state that, in most locations, the relationship between organized teachers and reformers remains at best a tenuous truce and at worst a pitched battle. None are really getting what they want. Teachers are no closer to achieving the…

Principal Alison Harris is blunt in describing what she confronted on her arrival to Ranson IB Middle School in 2011. "I was placed in what many people would call an impossible situation," she says. During her initial visit to the school in 2009-10, she watched as students changed classes--while teachers pressed against the lockers to…

This document provides an overview of multiple career paths that schools can use to expand opportunities for their teachers. These career paths match Public Impact's school models that use job redesign and technology to extend the reach of excellent teachers to more students, for more pay, within budget. Most of these school models create new…

In the schoolhouse, nothing matters more to students' learning than their teachers. But only about one of every four U.S. classrooms has an "excellent teacher"--one who produces enough learning progress to close achievement gaps quickly and help all students leap ahead to higher-order learning. What can schools do, now, to reach many…

Better-prepared new teachers, more adults in every classroom, more small-group instruction, more adults caring for every student--how can a school wrap all that up in one package? Three Metropolitan Nashville Opportunity Culture schools are trying a novel approach with paid, yearlong student teaching positions. The three schools are: (1) Buena…

Public Impact asked a simple question: "Will our nation's boldest efforts to recruit more top teachers and remove the least effective teachers put an excellent teacher in every classroom?" They ran the numbers and discovered the disappointing answer: No. But that's not the end of the story. With a change in schools' strategies, they realized, 87…

Authors and co-directors of "Public Impact," Emily Ayscue Hassel and Bryan C. Hassel state that, looking back over the decades, no one is really getting what they want. Teachers are no closer to achieving the societal respect and substantial, sustainable rewards for their contributions that they deserve, and student achievement has…

This brief estimates the impact of a statewide implementation of Opportunity Culture models, using North Carolina as an example. Impacts estimated include student learning outcomes, gross state product, teacher pay, and other career characteristics, and state income tax revenue. Estimates indicate the potential for a statewide transition to…

To help all students reach their potential, district leaders must ensure that every student has consistent access to excellent teaching. Opportunity Culture compensation and career path structures help make that possible, and this guide shows how. "Teacher Pay and Career Paths in an Opportunity Culture: A Practical Policy Guide" shows…

To help all students reach their potential, district leaders must ensure that every student has consistent access to excellent teaching. Opportunity Culture compensation and career path structures help make that possible, and this guide shows how. "Teacher Pay and Career Paths in an Opportunity Culture: A Practical Policy Guide" shows…

Research continues to confirm that without "excellent" teachers consistently, most students who start behind stay behind, and too few middling and advanced students leap ahead. Even solid teachers who achieve one year of learning progress leave achievement gaps intact. Schools that "consistently" provide all students with…

Our nation is squandering one of its most important resources--our best teachers--and children are paying the price. Current policy initiatives overlook the most obvious, immediate source of improved teaching effectiveness: The great teachers we already have. The top 25 percent of U.S. teachers--more than 800,000 of them--already achieve results…