OPPORTUNITYCULTURE.ORG

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more detail: Multi-Combinationscombineseveralmodesandmodelstoreachasmanystudentsaspossiblewithexcellentteachersandmakethebestuseofallavailabletalentandtechnology. Multi-Combinations can take many different forms. Schoolsmost likely to benefit from Multi-Combination models includeoneswith:

✱ Relativelysmallnumbersofproven,excellentteachers✱ Asmallpipelineofhigh-potentialincomingteachers✱ Highteacherturnover✱ Manynewteachers✱ Teachersverycommittedtoexcellence,butwhoarenotpro-

ducing learning gains big enough to close achievement gapsandpropelstudentstohigher-levellearning

✱ Ahighneedforadditional,excellentschoolleadersinthedis-trictorcharterorganization

Thenumberofstudentsreached,groupsize,andtheamountsoftimestudentsspendwithteachersanddigitalinstructioncanvarywidely.SchoolsmayimplementMulti-Combinationsacrosswholeschoolsorinsomesubjects,grades,orcoursesbutnotothers. Familiaritywiththefullrangeofschoolmodelsforextendingthereachofexcellentteacherswillhelpschooldesignersmakethebest Multi-Combination design decisions. See more about all oftheschoolmodelsatopportunityculture.org/reach. Here we show examples that combine Multi-Classroom Lead-ership,Specialization,Time-TechnologySwaps,andRemotelyLo-catedTeachers.Theseexamplesincludefullyaccountableteacherswhoteachinperson,otherswhoteachfromremotelocations,anddigitalinstruction(usedinTime-TechnologySwaps).

REDESIGNING SCHOOLSMODELS TO REACH EVERY STUDENT WITH EXCELLENT TEACHERS

multi-combinations

Multi-Combinationreachmodelsusemultiplemodels(Multi-ClassroomLeadership,Specialization,Time-TechnologySwaps,andClass-SizeChanges)andmodes(in-person,remote,anddigital)toextendthereachofexcellentteacherstolargernumbersofstudents.Multi-Combinationsarebestforschoolswithsevereshortagesofexcellentin-personteachersand/orahighcom-

mitmenttoreachingeverystudentwithexcellentteachersineverygradeandsubjectbyanymeanspossible. Estimated ReachExtensionEffects:Potentiallycoverageofallstudentsbyexcellentteachersinallchosensubjects—a400%increaseinreach,ormoreinsomegradelevelsandsubjects.Formoreonthismodel,seeopportunityculture.org/reach/multi-combinations/.

MULTI-CLASSROOM LEADERSHIPTeachers with leadership skills both teach and lead teams or “pods” of other teachers in order to share strategies and best practices for classroom success. Responsible for achieving high growth for all classrooms in the pod, the teacher-leader determines how students spend time and tailors teachers’ roles according to their strengths.

OTHER TEACHERS

EXCELLENT TEACHER

ELEMENTARY SPECIALIZATIONA school’s best teachers teach one of two core subject pairs: math/science or language arts/social studies, while teammates take care of students the rest of the time and cover administrative work. This allows specialized teachers to instruct multiple classrooms of students and gain more time for planning and collaboration.

TIME-TECHNOLOGY SWAPS

DIGITAL LEARNING

FACE-TO-FACE TEACHING

REMOTE TEACHINGSchools without enough excellent teachers can enlist accountable remote teachers down the street or across the nation. Remote teachers use technology to provide live, but not in-person, instruction, while on-site teammates manage administrative duties and develop the whole child.

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Multi-Classroom Leadership. Teacher-leadersleadteamsofteach-ers and paraprofessionals, incorporate digital instruction, andworkwithschoolprincipalsto:

✱ Setthestandardforinstructionalexcellence;✱ Choose instructional materials, assessments, and grading

rubrics;✱ Assignteachingroles;✱ Overseedifferentiatedinstructionalplanningtomeetstudents’

individualneeds(withhelpofdigitalinstructionaltools);and✱ Developteammembers’skills.

Teammembers’roleschangeovertimeasteacher-leadersworktoplaceeveryoneinrolesthatcontributetoexcellentstudentlearn-ingandprovideprofessionaldevelopmentopportunities.Workingclosely with proven, excellent teachers, team teachers learn theelementsofexcellentteachingwhiledoingworkthatimmediatelycontributestoexcellentoutcomes. Thosewhoexcelcantrynewroles,seekingthebestcombina-tions of work for their individual talents. For example, teacherswhoexcelinoneareamaycontinueasspecialistsinlimitedsub-jectsorroles,dependingonboththeschool’sneedsandindividu-als’preferences.Thosewhoexcelinmanyinstructionalareasandwhodemonstrate leadershipcompetenciescantakeonmoreoftheteacher-leader’srole,enablingtheleadertocoverawiderspanofclassrooms.Theseemergingleadersthenhaveopportunitiestoleadmultipleclassrooms.

Specialization. Teachersspecializebasedonsubjectexpertiseorroles through which they can expand their impact on studentachievement. In elementary schools, some teachers may spe-cialize inoneor tworelatedsubjectsorsub-partsofsubjects inwhichtheyexcelwithstudents,focusingonstrengthsthattheycanusewith largernumbersofstudentsandcontinuedevelop-ing.Schoolsmayusesubjectspecializationwithallteachers,notjustalready-excellentteachers,toallowteacherstofocusonand

developprowessinanarrowerrangeofcontent.Inbothelemen-taryandsecondaryschools,someteachersmayfocusthemajor-ityoftheirtimeontheteachingroleswheretheymakethebestcontributions, such as teaching small groups, leading engaginglarge-groupdiscussions,orreviewingstudentworkandprovidingdevelopmentalfeedback.

Time-Technology Swaps. Teacher-leaders incorporate enoughdigitalinstructionintotheschooldaytoallowthebestteacherstoreachmorestudentswithouthavingtoincreaseclasssizesordecreasepersonalizedlearningtimeandhigher-orderthinkingin-struction.Schoolsmaychoosetohaveallteachersswapaportionoftheirtimewithdigitalinstructionregardlessofprioreffective-ness,tofreeallteachers’timeforcollaborationandplanning,and/ortofreefundstopayteachersmore.

Remotely located teachers: With input from the team, teacher-leaders also identify gaps for which remotely located excellentteachersareneeded.Coursesorsubjectsforwhichnoexcellent,in-person teacher is available through other methods of reachextensionarecandidatesforremoteteaching.Remotely locatedteachersalsomayswapaportionof their instructional timefordigitalinstruction,justasin-personteachersdo.

additional example details: Paraprofessionalscontributetosaveteachersasmuchtimeaspos-sible,suchasbysupervisingstudentsduringdigitallearningtime,tutoringwithguidancefromexcellentteachers,andcompletingadministrativetasks. Studentsbenefitfromthehighexpectations,excellentmateri-als,andlearningpacedeterminedbytheleaderwitharecordofexcellence.Becauseeachadultisdoingwhatheorshedoesbest,students’learningtimeishighlyengagingandrewarding.Digitallearningtimeisindividuallypacedforeachstudent,sothosewhoneedmoreskillpracticegetit,whileotherscanadvance.Allstu-dentshaveasmuchormoretimedevelopinghigher-orderthink-ingskillsthantheywouldundertraditionalmodels—withteacherswhoarebestatthischallengingteachingtask.Studentsspendfarlesstimeinwhole-groupinstructionthatdoesnotmeettheirin-dividuallearningneeds. Teamworkamongthemulti-classleaders,teamteachers,digital

EXCELLENT TEACHER

A Teacher’s Impact = Student Outcomes x

Number of Students Reached

In an Opportunity Culture, all teachers have career opportunities dependent upon their excellence, lead ership, and student impact. Advancement allows more pay and greater reach.

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labmonitors,andremotelylocatedteachersisessential.Collabo-rationmustbeverystrongtodevelopstudents’fullrangeofaca-demic,social,emotional,andtime-managementskills.

Role and Schedule Changes for Excellent Teachers: Excellentteach-erswithleadershipcompetenciesleadteachingteams.Theyalsomayreservetheirownteachingtimefortheelementsofinstruc-tion in which their excellence makes the largest contribution totheteameffort—suchasinparticularsubjects,lessons,orteach-ingroles.Teacher-leaderscanincreasethenumberofclassroomsandstudentswithintheirpurviewbydevelopingtheteam,lettingteammemberstrynewrolestoidentifystrengths,anddelegatingmore planning and responsibility to teachers who respond withexcellentperformance. Remotelylocatedexcellentteachersworkfromhomeorotherlocations,andtheymustbeabletomotivatestudentsandmakepersonalconnectionsviaemail,video,andphone. Allteachers’scheduleschangetoaccommodatedifferingrolesandstudents’timeinthedigitallab.

New Roles for Other Staff: ✱ Teamteachersplayawiderangeofroles.Theymayspecialize

in a subject or in certain teaching roles, such as large-group,small-group,orproject-basedinstruction,orstudentworkre-viewandfeedback.Theyworkundertheleadershipoftheex-cellentteacher-leader.

✱ Digitallabmonitorssupervisestudentswhiletheyareengagedindigitalinstruction,andtheymaysupervisestudentswhoareworkingwithtutorsoronprojectsinthesameroom.

✱ When excellent teachers reach more students successfully,schools may reduce the number of non-classroom instruc-tionalspecialistswhoprovideremedialandadvancedinstruc-tion,freeingfundsthatmightbeusedtopayexcellentteach-ersmore.Someinstructionalspecialistsmaybecandidatesforreach-extendedteachingroles(in-personorremote).

Optionalpositionsmayincreasethenumberofstudentsexcellentteacherscanreach.Tutorsandteachingassistantsmaycontributetoexcellence,byfollowingtheleadofexcellentteachersandplay-ingsupportingroles.

✱ Tutors may provide small-group and individual instruction atthedirectionofexcellentteachers.

✱ Teaching assistants may relieve teachers of administrativework.

✱ Inschoolsusingalargenumberofremotelylocatedteachers,learningcoachesmayberesponsiblefordevelopingsomestu-dents’ social, emotional, behavioral, and time-managementskills.

Impact on Students: Students at all levels have learning experi-encesthatmeetthestandardsofthebestteachers.Excellent,re-motelylocatedteachersenablestudentstotakecoursestowhichtheywouldnototherwisehaveaccess,withoutgivingupaccesstoexcellentinstruction.Digitalinstructionallowsmorepersonalizedpacingaccordingtoeachstudent’smasteryofthecontent,anim-provementonportionsofthewhole-classinstructionitreplaces. Farmorestudentshaveexcellentteacherswholeadtheirlearn-inginselectedsubjectsandarefullyaccountablefortheirprog-ress,benefittingdirectlywithhigherlearningprogressandotherimprovedoutcomes.

Scheduling Changes: Students rotate between digital, face-to-face,andremotelydeliveredinstructiononafixedschedule.Inallschools,schedulingmustallowuseofmultiplespaceswherestu-dentscanlearninthesedifferentways.

Pay Changes: Schoolscanpaymoretoanyteacherswhosereachis extended while saving money, and even more to those whoboth reach more students and achieve excellent outcomes forthosestudents.Excellentteacher-leaderscanbepaidmoreinfourways: by paying digital lab monitors less, by paying some teamteachersless,byincreasingthenumberofstudentsforwhomtheteacher-leaderisresponsiblewithoutproportionallyincreasingthenumberofteamteachers,and/orbyreducingthenumberofnon-classroominstructionalspecialists.Havingmorethanoneclassofstudentsindigitallearninglabsatoncefreesadditionalfundstoattractandkeepexcellentteachers. Remoteexcellentteachersmayreachmorestudentsbydirectlyengagingwiththemforalargerportionoftheirworktimethaninatraditionalschool,becausetheyarerelievedofadministrativedutiesrelatedtoon-siteteaching.Theyalsomayteachacrosstimezones,enablingthemtoteachmoreclasses.

Cost Savings To Be Shared by Excellent Teachers and School: Thismodelcanbebudgetneutral.Potentialcostsavings includethereducedcostoflower-paiddigitallabmonitorpositionsandsometeam-teaching positions, plus savings from the reduction of in-structionalspecialists,minuscostsofanynewtechnologyneeded. Ifdigitallabshavemorethanatypicalclasssizeofstudentsinthematonce,furthersavingsmayberealized. Newschoolsmaysaveconstructioncostsbybuildingfacilitieswith fewer, larger classrooms. These rooms may be digital labsserving multiple classrooms of students at a time, or combineddigital,face-to-face,andremote-teacher-ledclassrooms.

Changes to Class/Group Size: Class and group sizes will varywidely,butclasssizemaybemaintainedwhilepayingexcellentteachersmore,withinbudget.Whole-groupinstructiontimemay

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bereducedsothatteacher-ledlearningtimewillbeingroupsizessmallerthantoday’stypicalclasses.

Facilities Changes: No facility changes are required under thismodel.Largerroomsthatmaybeusedflexiblyfordifferentkindsof instruction may be desirable in new schools, and existingschoolsmaychoosetoremovesomewallsfordigitallearninglabs.Movablefurnitureandroomdividersmaybeuseful.

Technology Needs: Students must have access to Internet-con-nectedcomputers.Remotelylocatedteacherswillneedtwo-wayelectronic communications with students (e.g., Skype, video oraudioconferencing,and/oremail).Digitalinstructionmaybepur-chasedasdiscreteprogramsordevelopedbytheschool,suchasbydigitizinglessonsofthemostoutstandingteacheronaparticulartopic. If teachersarerecordingtheir lessons,schoolswill requirerecordingandplaybackequipment.

Estimated Reach Effect Calculation Assumptions: Excellentteach-erscouldreach400%morestudents(ormore—upto700%moreforelementarymath,forexample)byextendingtheirreachusinga combination of Multi-Classroom Leadership, Time-TechnologySwaps,SubjectandRoleSpecialization,andby includingremoteteachingwhenappropriate.Seeindividualmodeldescriptionsforunderlying reach effect assumptions at opportunityculture.org/reach/.

example: elementary school model Excellentteacherswithleadershipcompetenciesleadteamscover-ingtwotosixclassroomsofstudentsinthesameornearbygrades.Studentsspend25%oftheirin-schoollearningtimeinadigitallabwithadigitallabmonitorwhosupervisesstudentsastheyrotateintothe labfromotherface-to-face(andpotentiallyremote) in-struction.Theschoolalsoprovidesteacherswithtime-savingtech-nologytools forgradingandgroupingstudents inflexiblesmallgroupsforaportionofinstruction.Theteacher-leaderschedulesstudentgroupsofvaryingsizesforface-to-facelearning—insmallgroups, largegroups,andprojectgroups—anddeterminesteamteachers’ subject and instructional roles to ensure excellent in-struction for all students. The leader is fully accountable for all

students’ outcomes, but also works with the team members toclarify,evaluate,andimproveeachteammember’scontribution.Teacher-leadersmayincorporateremotelylocatedteachersortu-torstocomplementtheschool-basedteaminneededsubjects.

example: secondary school modelExcellent teachers with leadership competencies lead teams inparticular subject areas. Students spend up to 50% of their in-schoollearningtimeinadigitallabwithadigitallabmonitorwhosupervisesstudentsastheyrotateintothelabfromotherface-to-face(andpotentiallyremote)instruction.Theschoolalsoprovidesteacherswithtime-savingtechnologytoolsforgradingandgroup-ingstudentsinflexiblesmallgroupsforaportionofinstruction.Theteacher-leaderschedulesstudentgroupsofvaryingsizesforface-to-face learning—insmallgroups,discussionseminars,andprojectteams—anddeterminesteamteachers’instructionalrolestoensureexcellentinstructionforallstudentswithintheleader’spurview. Inaddition,insubjectsforwhichnoexcellentteachersareavail-able in person, students can take courses taught by excellent,remotely located teachers who use webcams and online white-boards.Theseteachersalsomayswapaportionoftheir instruc-tional time with digital instruction, so that students alternatebetweenliveinteractionwiththeremoteteacherandonlinelearn-ing.Remotely locatedteacherscheck inwithstudents regularly,followingupwiththosewhoselearningstallsandthosewhoneedadvancedassignments,andtheyareavailableforquestionsandquick tutoring sessions via email and phone. Students learningwithremotelylocatedteachersneednotbeinthesameschools,aslongasschedulescanaccommodateteacher-ledportionsofin-struction.Duringtheportionoftheschooldaythatstudentslearnfromremotelylocatedteachers,studentsaresupervisedbydigitallabmonitors. Ratherthanreplacingin-personinstructionwithentirelyonlinecourses,thismodelletsteacherswhohaveproventheirexcellenceinconnectingwithstudentspersonally,motivatingthem,helpingthemwhentheyfacebarriers,anddevelopingtheirhigher-orderthinking skills reach more students in these areas of strength.Eventhoughtheseteachersareremotelylocated,theycanbese-

DIGITAL LEARNING DIGITAL LEARNING

FACE-TO-FACE TEACHING

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lectedfortheirabilitytoconnectwithstudentsviawebcam,onlinewhiteboards,email,andphone.

In both elementary and secondary schools, students can havehighlypersonalizedlearningexperiences,becauseface-to-face,re-mote,anddigitalinstructioncanvaryaccordingtoeachstudent’sneeds.Thiskindofdifferentiationisahallmarkofexcellentteach-ers,andthesemodelsenablethemtodeliverthistomorestudentswithoutincreasing—andsometimesdecreasing—groupsizes.

Seeopportunityculture.org/reach/school-models/forthemodelsusedinthiscombinationandtheCriticalImplementationDecisionchecklistswithinthosemodels:

✱ Multi-ClassroomLeadership(“Pods”)✱ SubjectSpecialization(Elementary)✱ In-PersonRotation(Elementary), In-PersonRotation(Second-

ary),In-PersonFlex,andRemoteTime-TechnologySwaps(Rota-tionandFlex)

opportunity culture principlesTeams of teachers and school leaders must 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

Acknowledgements

WearegratefulforthefeedbackandinputofteachersfromTeachPlusandEducators4Excellence,theOpportunityCultureAdvisoryTeam,andourotheradvisors.

ThispublicationwasmadepossibleinpartbysupportfromCarnegieCorporationofNewYork,theBill&MelindaGatesFoundation,andTheJoyceFoundation.ThestatementsmadeandviewsexpressedaresolelytheresponsibilityofPublicImpact.LearnmoreatOpportunityCulture.org.

PublicImpactencouragesthesharingandcopyingofthesematerials.Usersmustinclude“©2012PublicImpact”and“OpportunityCulture.org”onallpageswherematerialfromthisdocumentappears.OpportunityCultureisatrademarkofPublicImpact.

Pleasecitethisreportas:PublicImpact.(2012).Redesigning schools: Mod-els to reach every student with excellent teachers — Multi-combinations.ChapelHill,NC:Author.Retrievedfromhttp://opportunityculture.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Multi-Combinations_School_Model-Public_Impact.pdf

©2012,updated2014PublicImpact,ChapelHill,NC.

building anopportunity culture for america’s teachers