Professional Learning
Page Navigation
- Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
- Department of Professional Learning
- Opportunity Culture
-
What is Opportunity Culture in WS/FCS?
WS/FCS is part of a growing, national Opportunity Culture movement to extend the reach of excellent teachers, principals, and their teams to more students, for more pay, within regular school budgets. That means great opportunities to have a fulfilling career path full of support.
Why did we choose Opportunity Culture?
To provide all students with excellent teaching and to help students close achievement gaps and leap ahead, our schools are creating an Opportunity Culture for their teachers and students. Opportunity Culture models enable schools to reach every student with excellent teachers and their teams—consistently—while paying teachers more for their extra responsibilities, and helping all educators improve on the job and work collaboratively. All pay supplements are funded through reallocations of existing budgets–no temporary grants.
An Opportunity Culture creates new roles for teachers–through a foundation of Multi-Classroom Leadership–and support staff, and it carefully integrates technology to save teachers time and help individualize instruction, often through small groups. The most effective teachers are responsible not only for helping more students, but also for helping their peers achieve teaching excellence, too. Research has shown large student learning gains for students on multi-classroom leader teams.
In each Opportunity Culture school, a team of teachers and administrators adopts new roles to reach more students with teachers who have produced high-growth student learning. The team decides what reallocations to make to fund higher-paid roles, how to design school schedules for collaboration at school, how fast to reach all students with excellent teaching, and other design elements.
Opportunity Culture schools have attracted large numbers of outstanding educators committed to creating a culture of excellence for students, teachers, and staff. Learn more at OpportunityCulture.org.
The Opportunity Culture team at Public Impact supports and trains districts, schools, and partners who share our commitment to reaching every student with excellent teaching, every year, and to providing outstanding career opportunities to teachers.
Starting with the 2020-2021 school year, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools has offered an amazing career pathway for effective teachers in select schools, instructional facilitators, and teacher academy leaders known as Opportunity Culture, an initiative designed to allow excellent educators opportunities to take their talents to the next level.
Why Opportunity Culture?: What barriers keep teachers and students from experiencing great support and strong learning outcomes? Learn how Opportunity Culture provides on-the-job, consistent support for all teachers to reach many more students with excellence. Learn about the unique role of multi-classroom leaders (MCLs)—educators who provide intensive support and development. Opportunity Culture Roles:
Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL)
A teacher with a track record of high-growth student learning who leads lesson planning, data analysis, and instructional changes for a small teaching team. MCLs are either partial release (no more than 4 teachers) or full release with between 2 – 8 teachers on their teams. The MCLs support teachers through coaching cycles, co-teaching, modeling lessons, leading PLT meetings, leading data analysis meetings, teaching more students, observing, giving feedback, and coaching team teachers. and/or leading small group instruction. Due to the level of support that MCLs provide to teachers and students and how MCLs are held accountable for results, MCLs should not serve in other formal roles at the school (facilitator, dean, interventionist, etc.).
Hear from Laketha Ebrahim-Blackwell on Being a Multi-Classroom Leader
Expanded Impact Teacher (EIT)
Teaches on a team led by an MCL that reaches more students. EITs have a high-growth track record, with the support of a Reach Associate and/or creative scheduling, EITs teach significantly more students. The EIT I role teaches at least 33% more students than the average teacher in the school. The EIT II role teaches at least 66% more students than the average teacher in the school.
Reach Associate (RA)
Reach Associates (RAs) are advanced paraprofessionals who support EITs and MCLs. MCLs give heavy guidance on lessons and classroom management. The reach associate (RA) typically provides both instructional and noninstructional support to a team of teachers, as designated by the team’s multi-classroom leader, with a focus on providing small-group tutoring under the guidance of the multi-classroom leader’s team. (S)he also aids instruction by supervising time on projects, skills practice, and digital learning. (S)he works closely with the teaching team to complete various administrative tasks and noninstructional paperwork. (S)he manages procedures and supervises student behavior during transitions, lunch, recess, assemblies, and other unstructured activities, and while teacher(s) deliver instruction. The reach associate may be a multi-team RA supporting several teaching teams when team members need release time to work with other teachers, or a team RA who supports a single team primarily through providing small-group tutoring in a tutoring lab, by pulling small groups out of classrooms, or by pushing into classrooms to work with small groups.
Hear from Janie Martin on Being a Reach Associate
Qualifications:
Reach Associate: Associates degree or 60 college credit hours and 3 years of previous experience working within a classroom/school environment. Knowledge of general methods of education and teaching including computer-assisted instruction. Knowledge of principles and procedures of computer systems operations that includes digital learning programs and online data reporting. Ability to work collaboratively with teachers, tutors, teacher assistants, and school leadership. Ability to plan and conduct small group instruction. Ability to work and make decisions effectively and independently, enabling the Reach Team to meet student achievement targets with minimal supervision. Ability to evaluate situations, examine or analyze student assessment results, prepare recommendations, and then take effective action quickly.
Expanded Impact Teacher: Bachelor’s Degree with four years of prior teaching experience with 3 years of demonstrated evidence of high-progress student outcomes in relevant subjects. Rankings on professional teaching standards are at least Proficient, with a preference for rankings in accomplished.
Multi-classroom Leader: Bachelor’s Degree with four years of prior teaching experience with sustained demonstration of high progress in student outcomes in their licensure area and evaluations rated as proficient and/or accomplished or higher on teacher standards in most recent years. Evidence of a strong correlation between the Professional Teaching Standards and three-year EVAAS trend data that supports student growth.
Who We Are Seeking
-
Are you a great teacher who’s ready to take the next step in your career—without leaving the students you love?
Do you like to set ambitious goals for yourself and your students?
Do you enjoy supporting your colleagues to become more effective teachers? Are you looking for ways to help others succeed professionally?
In an Opportunity Culture, you can share your excellent teaching and build relationships with many more students, and lead and support other teachers. You’ll do that with more support for your own leadership, and more school-day time for planning and collaboration—for significantly more pay, sustainably funded.
Do you want to reach more students with your great teaching, with the strong support and collaboration of an enthusiastic teaching team and leader?
This is your chance to help even more students challenge themselves and succeed, for more pay, with powerful, proven support and more in-school time for planning and collaboration!
How To Apply
-
Before You Apply
Start by gathering the following information/documents:
- Employment history (dates, contact information)
- Transcripts
- Resume, cover letter, and copy of teaching license and other supporting documents
- MCL and EIT applicants need to provide 3 years of EVAAS and NCEES data
- Professional references
To Apply- Visit the WS/FCS Employment Opportunities page.
- Search the Job Boards or Sign Up for a WS/FCS ATS account.
- Search Job Postings for:
- Multi-Classroom Leader
- Search Job Postings for:
- Complete all required parts and upload appropriate documents for your application.
- Mutli-Classroom Leaders need to upload 3 years NCEES and EVAAS data
- Expanded Impact Teachers need to email Tina Lupton resume, 3 years NCEES, and EVAAS data
- Review and submit your application.
Important Dates:
- Applications open March 18th, 2024
- OC informational Sessions for interested applicants will occur:
- March 21st- 3:30-5:00 Lead by Public Impact
- See Keeping You Informed for Meeting Link
- Application Period will be March 18th - June 14th
- Interviews will be April 8th-June 21st
- Qualified Applicant Pool information shared with Principals starting April 15th
For questions or more information on the application process, contact our Staffing Team in Human Resources at staffing@wsfcs.k12.nc.us or 336-727-2969.