Uplift Education Joins National Initiative, Opportunity Culture, to Reach Students with Excellent Teaching

DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / April 14, 2022 / Uplift Education is thrilled to announce that they have joined the growing, national Opportunity Culture movement to reach all students with excellent teaching, to help students meet their academic goals and leap ahead. Uplift has partnered with Tarleton State University, Public Impact, and US PREP to design and implement innovative roles that provide powerful support for all educators in a select group of Tarrant County schools. Funding for the initial design planning and implementation is provided in part by grants from the Fort Worth Education Partnership and Sid W. Richardson Foundation.

Opportunity Culture enables schools to reach every student with excellent teachers, while paying them more, sustainably, for their extra responsibilities, and helping all educators improve on the job and work collaboratively. Two independent Opportunity Culture studies-one looking at a Texas district-show large student learning gains: https://www.opportunityculture.org/research/.

"The Opportunity Culture initiative and its underlying mission--to improve education dramatically for all students, especially low-income students, students of color, and other students whose needs historically have not been well met-align with Uplift's work in all our schools," said Uplift CEO, Yasmin Bhatia.

"We at Public Impact are delighted to work with Uplift as they make decisions about how to use Opportunity Culture roles that can make a difference for students and teachers in their Tarrant County schools," said Troy Smith, assistant vice president for Opportunity Culture state and charter initiatives. "As we've seen in the 500-plus schools that have joined the Opportunity Culture initiative so far, teachers love the support, and students see the impact on their learning."

Opportunity Culture roles and teacher-leader opportunities at Uplift will be available in the 2022-23 school year in the program at Tarrant County Uplift schools.

• Multi-Classroom Leader: This role is the cornerstone of an Opportunity Culture school. A multi-classroom leader, or MCL, is a teacher with a track record of high-growth student learning who leads lesson planning, data analysis, and instructional improvements for a small teaching team (usually four to six teachers), while continuing to teach in some way-for higher pay.
• Team Reach Teacher/Master Team Reach Teacher: Team reach teachers are part of an MCL-led team that reaches more students with the support of the MCL and paraprofessionals (reach associates or teacher residents); master team reach teachers reach even more students and may assist the MCL in leading a slightly larger team (six to eight). All earn extra pay.
• Reach Associates: Reach associates are advanced paraprofessionals who support the team, including by tutoring students, under the MCL's guidance.

MCL teaching teams may also include teacher residents; Uplift and Tarleton State University are working together to provide yearlong, paid teacher residencies.

"Uplift is excited about the synergy this will create for the network and new partnership with Tarleton State and a Fort Worth-specific teacher pipeline. Implementing this framework can optimize teacher talent while providing deep support, which is more important than ever post-Covid. This also positively impact students, parents, and the community who experience the deeper academic and social-emotional support their students deserve. It enriches teacher leadership opportunities available to Uplift teachers and helps to codify career pathways that allow teachers to advance without having to leave the classroom," says Bhatia.

"We believe that all students have the potential to learn and achieve at high levels, all teachers deserve opportunities to excel, and all voices committed to these goals should be heard."

Uplift Education

Uplift Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to changing the lives of teachers, families, and, most importantly, students. With a network of 46 college-preparatory public charter schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Uplift offers students of any background the powerful chance to study within a multidisciplinary curriculum and prepare for the college career they deserve. Uplift is the largest International Baccalaureate district in Texas and the #2 IB district in the nation because of the number of holistic extracurricular and educational programs. The incredible educators in the Uplift network guide and teach over 21,000 students in Pre-K- 12th grades, with the majority being low-income and minority students who will be the first in their family to attend college. For more information, Uplift's mission and their blind lottery selection system, visit uplifteducation.org or facebook.com/uplifteducation.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Deekay Fox
Senior Marketing and Communications Director
dfox@uplifteducation.org
661-378-2353

SOURCE: Uplift Education