Front of the Class: Lessons & Laughs Learned from my Middle School Classroom: Cool new jobs available!

These are definitely worth checking out if you are interested!

Achievement First charter management organization is looking for an individual for the role of:

Associate Director of ELA Achievement, Middle and High School

Team: Teaching and Learning

Location: New Haven, CT or Brooklyn, NY

Summary

The Associate Director of ELA Achievement is an integral part of the middle and high school ELA team that works with principals, academic deans, and teachers to craft and drive the vision behind an exemplary literacy program. We work closely with these cohorts to ensure that they develop the tools, skills, and knowledge necessary to navigate a changing landscape with the introduction of the Common Core State Standards through professional and curricular development, core skill building, classroom observations and data analysis. Reporting to the director of ELA achievement, 5-12, this position offers the opportunity to be at the forefront of this instructional work.

Responsibilities of the Associate Director of ELA Achievement Include but Are Not Limited to:

Program Vision and Implementation

Managing Core Literacy Program Systems

Professional Development

Curriculum Development

Classroom Observations and Coaching

Candidate Profile:

We are looking for someone with experience as an effective teacher, department chair or dean; this person should also have deep content knowledge and pedagogical expertise in literacy. Our hope is that this person also has strong communication and writing skills. This job is a neat balance of curriculum, professional development and school support; the opportunity to work with deans and teachers to build a cohesive literacy program is really powerful.

Cover Letters and Resumes can be send directly to:

Lauren Bassi

laurenbassi@achievementfirst.org

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At Teach For America, we all know being an executive director anywhere is a very big, hard – but incredibly rewarding – job. Being the ED of a region growing to take in at least 500 incoming teachers next year, needing to raise nearly $30 million in the next three years and managing a phenomenal team of soon to be more than 50 people – in the midst of a pivotal transition at the mayoral/chancellor levels - is a really great opportunity although incredibly big and complex. We need the right person to do this and to get there, we need to build a very strong and diverse pool of candidates to consider. To do that, we need MVPs (you or someone you know):

Mature: commands a level of respect and confidence among highly sophisticated – and experienced – internal and external constituents including staff, district/CMO stakeholders and donors.
Visionary: must be able to inspire and motivate others to bold action and outcomes.
Passionate: must hunger to learn and continuously improve.
Urgent: must want to pull off something big, quickly, including rebuilding a board and raising almost $30 million.

Position Summary

We are seeking an executive director to maximize Teach For America's impact in the region, both in the short term as we work to achieve our ambitious growth goals, and in the longer term to drive the vision and plan to end educational inequity in New York City. The work of the executive director is grounded in the ability to invest and engage local stakeholders as vital partners in this work and to effectively hire, manage and develop a team of high performing individuals to accomplish measurable results against ambitious outcomes.

Teach For America's 46 executive directors are a part of the national senior leadership team at Teach For America and operate at the forefront of ending educational inequity in this country; impacting the life trajectories of thousands of children. The New York executive director is supported by a local advisory board, reports to a senior vice president of regional operations, and manages a team of nearly 50 staff members.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Set overarching regional vision and direction and work to establish Teach For America as an integral partner in the New York education reform community

Be the face and voice for Teach For America in New York
Chart our course in the region, to maximize our impact in the short and long run, and to take our region from good to great by maximizing the power of our alumni, increasing corps member performance on student achievement, and building sustaining partnerships with others in the fight for education equity
Build staff capacity and infrastructure and manage relationships with key stakeholders to grow from an $14.5 million entity to a $27 million one by 2015
Build political capital to ensure Teach For America becomes part of the social and educational fabric of the region
Work effectively with local media outlets and national communications team to elevate our presence in the New York region

Engage and cultivate stakeholders

Grow and maintain a sustainable, diversified state-wide funding base that will include gifts from individuals, corporations, and foundations; district and public funding
Cultivate and ensure the ongoing engagement and support of a portfolio of influential individual, corporate, and foundation donors
Develop and evolve a strategy for maintaining and growing our public support, from district, local, and state sources
Values and builds relationships with community leaders and members to ensure our work is informed by the local perspective
Cultivate strong relationships with current partner school districts to place corps members and alumni leaders with an eye toward maximizing scale and sustainability
Help build relationships with new districts and geographic areas in line with the regional 2015 growth plan
Continue to engage and enlist board members that will help us maximize our impact in the region. This includes seeking a diverse group of board members who have the influence and networks necessary to support the effort to reach our goals, ensuring we maximize each board member’s potential contributions, and that the group as a whole is strong
Support teacher leadership development by coaching team to create a larger force of transformational teachers impacting thousands of students throughout New York on their path to and through college
Establish relationships and communications with corps members, alumni and staff members across teams to build a strong culture and inform our plans

Build and manage a team

Build a strong team and ensure staff members are maximizing their individual potential as organizational and regional team, with explicit professional development priorities
Steward a strong culture based on our core values and reflective of our commitment to diversity and inclusiveness
Cultivate and seek the talent we need for staff positions in the New York region and throughout Teach For America

Manage region towards ambitious goals

Set annual goals that are in line with our strategic plan and balance the need to be ambitious and yet feasible
Ensure strong strategic planning and execution of the Teach For America program continuum of matriculation, placement, orientation, and ongoing professional development for all corps members to meet goals
Ensure strong strategic planning and execution of

a strategy to accelerate the engagement and leadership of our alumni as a force for change
development operations to ensure continued growth, diversification, and sustainability
efficient office operations as staff grows

Candidate Profile and Experience Prerequisites

Skills and Mindsets

Demonstrates a deep commitment to and belief in Teach For America’s mission and theory of change
Consistently operates with the organization’s core values in mind (transformational change, leadership, team, diversity, respect & humility) and guides the regional team as an organizational leader
Desire and orientation to navigate complex situations; desire to understand people dynamics, and networks
Possesses enthusiasm for and a commitment to our classroom work and impact, as well as a deep passion for the New York community
Demonstrates excellent judgment, and operates with a high level of personal responsibility, optimism, and entrepreneurialism
Gets results by managing through others and across multiple layers of an organization
Enjoys and is skilled at coaching others and playing a role in their long-term professional development

Experience

School, district and/or CMO-based experience strongly preferred
Proven ability to set an inspiring vision and motivate others to reach ambitious goals in support of that vision
Management experience highly preferred
Bachelor’s degree required