Tool: Recruiting for Opportunity Culture Positions

Tool: Recruiting for Opportunity Culture Positions—

Quotes from Teachers and Principals

This tool provides a wide variety of inspiring quotes from practicing Opportunity Culture teachers and principals to use in recruitment materials.

Multi-Classroom Leaders

What brought me back to the classroom and students was this role. I would not be here if it weren’t for this role.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

The whole reason I’m an educator is to impact lots of students, and I feel like I’m really having an impact and am able to change their life trajectory through this role.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

The feeling I get when I walk into a teacher’s class and help her co-teach her class, pulling a small group and re-teaching a skill that they didn’t understand at first, is amazing.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

With Opportunity Culture’s Multi-Classroom Leadership, I have a chance to inspire more teachers and students with the opportunity to be the change they want to be.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

That’s when I saw the value of my new role as a multi-classroom leader: As an MCL, I no longer had my own classroom all day; instead, with the time to co-plan, collaborate, co-teach, and track and analyze students’ data, I could lead my teaching team in using strategic student placement and monitoring to finally find success.—Elementary School Multi-Classroom Leader

I started as the MCL for sixth grade, where for the previous three years the students had been experiencing negative learning growth — falling further and further behind. By my second year, my teaching team’s students exceeded the state’s expected growth targets in literacy and achieved double-digit growth in overall proficiency.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

Having a school building where there are leaders among leaders among leaders really changes the climate of a school—it really sets a culture of mutual respect and responsibility and professionalism.—Elementary School Multi-Classroom Leader

The increase in pay makes you feel professional. It makes you feel like somebody values your work.—K–8 Multi-Classroom Leader

It’s not enough to do PD once a month. Teachers need to know that someone is in the trenches with them. No matter how many years they’ve been teaching, no matter their age.—K–8 Multi-Classroom Leader

With Opportunity Culture and the MCL position, I pretty much have the best of both worlds—I still have the opportunity to impact more scholars with this position as well as impact the teachers.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

It is exciting to have that many students tied to me.— Elementary School Multi-Classroom Leader

I felt like I was doing my best in my classroom, but when I looked next door, across the hall…I wanted to be able to help other teachers.—K–8 Multi-Classroom Leader

I actually had my administrator license, and so I was toying with the idea of leaving the classroom, and the Opportunity Culture really spoke to me because I didn’t have to do that.—K–8 Multi-Classroom Leader

With a multi-classroom leader, you are guaranteeing that your staff or your teachers are really being coached from good to great. …The rate at which they grow I think is just unheard of.—K–8 Multi-Classroom Leader

What makes me most enthusiastic about OC is the ability to actually see the achievement gap close.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

I’ve grown a lot as an educator in doing this. … I’ve really been able to break apart my practice and see what I’m doing intuitively that needs to be repeated in other classrooms in order for the results to be similar.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

When you offer teachers a career ladder that respects who they are as thinkers and as professionals and as people who are very valuable to your workplace…you’re going to get the best people. And with the best people, you get the best results.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

I love being accountable for 371 scholars. I love it because what I want to see happen in five years is for 371 scholars to walk across the stage and receive their diplomas…and now I know that I’m having a direct impact on making sure that they actually reach that goal.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

Having the MCL positions…really creates this strong team network.—Elementary School Multi-Classroom Leader

It creates a sustainability for teachers staying in these turnaround environments because we are there to support them. We know it’s hard, and that’s what we’re here for.—Middle School Multi-Classroom Leader

Teachers (expanded-impact,blended-learning, elementary subject specialists, and team teachers)

The impact I’m seeing is phenomenal. I’m seeing learners that are really becoming truly 21st-century learners.— Elementary School Team Reach Teacher

Working in this Opportunity Culture model has played the most significant role in helping me to accomplish my goal of helping teachers new to the profession achieve a level of excellence that we all aspire to reach.—High School Expanded-Impact Teacher

Opportunity Culture really gave me the opportunity to stay and continue to improve my craft and continue to reach these kids. It’s awesome.—Elementary School Team Reach Teacher

I really liked the blended learning role because I have a passion for technology in the classroom.—K–8TeamReach Teacher

This model is great because on my best day I can go get advice, and on my worst day I can go get advice, without judgment. …You can go to your MCL and she’s right there to pick you back up.—Elementary School Team Teacher

Support is a huge piece of this—it makes a big difference! I feel very supported this year.—Elementary School Team Teacher

The MCLs give you daily support. They’re not just there for the observation, but they’re there from the beginning to work with you.—Middle School Team Teacher

The best part of working in an Opportunity Culture is the support. I mean, it’s just unbelievable.—Middle School Team Teacher

It’s given me an incredible amount of support. I have a lot of friends who are also in their first year teaching…I just get so much more feedback and support.— Middle School Team Teacher

I get time saved and support added that allow me to focus on the details that allow me to improve each day.— Middle School Team Teacher

We learn from each other, which is really great and helps me become a better teacher.—K–8 Team Teacher

Principals

I’ll never do anything else in a school—this work of building a teacher leadership model is transformational.— Middle School Principal

To me this is the new frontier and this is the way forward. I can speak for my school only—this has been absolutely the it factor when you look at what has changed the game and changed learning for kids.— Middle School Principal

It’s a sustainable answer to school turnaround. It is a sustainable and innovative way we can bring higher-powered teaching and learning to underserved schools—to all schools.— Middle School Principal

I feel like we’re on the cutting edge. We’re not just working on some flash-in-the-pan experiments in education.—Elementary School Assistant Principal

To see the teams with these different roles come together and look at data, look at collaborative planning, and differentiation, you see student achievement rise in new ways.—Middle School Principal

We got a better bucket of applicants because of the MCL model. Teachers want to collaborate. Teachers seek this model.— Elementary School Principal

People want to be a part of this. Teachers are applying at newfound rates to be a part of this work—it’s exciting. And teacher leadership is at the heart of it.— Middle School Principal

Opportunity Culture has afforded me the opportunity to keep …outstanding teachers here. I’ve been able to provide them with opportunities to impact more than one classroom of scholars. We’ve been able to pay them for that.—K–8 Principal

Keeping people in the building that I know belong with kids—that’s a benefit for me. Knowing that I have people in the building that share my vision and also are carrying it out…that’s what rock stars do.—Elementary School Principal

[If] you market it the right way for your school district, you’re going to get great candidates from all over the country that would be interested in it.— Elementary School Principal

Before Opportunity Culture…there were 28–29 first-year teachers in this building, and we don’t have that anymore. We have teachers with experience, teachers [with] a proven record.—Elementary School Principal

An Opportunity Culture provides you the opportunity to evaluate what resources you really have and make a plan for the gaps. …And so it’s just about taking the time to design and move around what your specific needs are with the resources that you have, so that you create something that’s sustainable.— Elementary School Principal

The biggest benefit Opportunity Culture provides for teachers is that they have a partner in the work, a true partner. My multi-classroom leaders, their success is tied directly to the teachers’ success, and so they want to make sure every teacher is successful.— K–8 Principal