We are looking for an experienced leader to head the South Carolina Institute team. The ideal candidate will have managed senior staff members, managed through layers, and have a track record of leading teams to exceptional results on complex projects. In this role, you will oversee all aspects of the planning and successful execution of our summer teacher training program aligned with the expectations and requirements of Teach For America, South Carolina region, our institute partners, our participating regions’ executive directors, and school superintendents. You and your team will be charged with: defining and evolving the vision of institute relative to regional vision and priorities; working closely with Leadership Development and alumni teams to achieve programmatic alignment; and guaranteeing that rigorous teacher development, alumni development and student learning take place within the South Carolina context over the course of the summer. You will be held to high standards for performance in the areas of: staff satisfaction; corps member experience; student achievement; and diversity, equity and inclusiveness.
You are innovative and strategic. You are energized by a blank page, and are constantly imagining ways for things to improve or new ways to solve problems. This same energy fuels you as a designer—both in crafting powerful adult learning experiences and in forging new systems and structures for impact. You match big thinking with being extremely deliberate in your decision making and know when to push pause on being generative so that you can turn something into reality. You are a self-driven planner and executor. You seamlessly take large projects and break them down into manageable chunks. You constantly know what is around the bend and have likely laid out four or five contingency plans just in case. This allows you to take immense ownership of your work. You are obsessive about impact. Your decisions are data-driven and outcome-oriented. You set and stay laser-focused on audacious goals and create team cultures that do as well. You never lose sight of the end game and are relentless about figuring out how to get there.
As the Managing Director of Regional Institute Strategy and on the Leadership Development Team, you will provide support to regions in the exploration, design, and execution of regionally developed teacher training institutes. Specifically, you will a) serve as an advisor to regional staff in the development of their training programs and operations, b) collect, synthesize, and share best practices and resources in teacher training strategy and operations, c) lead virtual and in person experiences to foster knowledge sharing and innovation across teacher training programs, and d) contribute to the priorities of the teacher preparation team as needed. You will report the Senior Managing Director, Leadership Development.
Primary responsibilities will include but are not limited to:
- Create a customized support plan with clearly defined outcomes for each regional client
- Provide coaching, advising, and document review to regions during the planning, development and implementation of their teacher preparation program
- Provide on the ground support to regions opting into intensive support; this could include in person coaching, product creation, facilitation of staff trainings, etc.
- Collect, synthesize, and share best practices and resources in teacher preparation strategy and operations across regional institutes and make these available in a variety of user-friendly formats (e.g., website, weekly newsletter)
- Extract lessons from pre-service innovation through purposeful observation and study
- Collaborate with other national teams, in particular Knowledge/ToLD, Data Systems, Operations, Legal, Marketing teams to optimize materials and experiences for regional institute teams
- Create virtual and in person experiences for collaboration and sparking of innovative practices across all teacher training programs,
- Set vision and direction for the regional institute conferences and manage the execution of the multi-day in-person event
- raft and execute on an ambitious vision to meet these critical outcomes, both through using current structures (adapted from/combined with our traditional institute model as appropriate) and innovating on how we support our regional teams given their variance in local context
- Build key partnerships with other stakeholders that play a role in summer training operations human assets, finance, technology, etc. and serve as a liaison between those teams and regional institute operations staff in pursuit of our goals
Set Vision and Design (40%)
- Design a compelling vision and strategy to reach desired student achievement goals over the summer as part of our training program for corps members. Partner with members of our Leadership Team to build a strong case for support of our regional institute, and represent the region at meetings with potential donors to secure additional funding (anchor funding already secured). Partner closely with the Leadership Development Team to create a seamless transition from institute training to regional program support. Make significant instructional decisions that will impact both corps member effectiveness and our ultimate goal of student achievement.
Strategic planning and partnerships (25%)
- With input from the Leadership Development Team, set a compelling vision and strategy to reach desired corps member and student achievement goals over the summer in partnership with your team.
- Lead relationships with a range of external and internal partners on behalf of the Institute, SC Regional, and TFA teams, ensuring that we provide an excellent and aligned experience for partner schools, participating staff, our university partner, enrolled students, and corps members.
- Actively contribute to and advance Teach for America’s broader efforts to train and support our corps members across their two year commitment and to eliminate educational inequity in South Carolina.
Team Management (25%)
- Manage a full-time team of four staff members to plan and execute the institute, and support them in their leadership, skill development, and success across all work streams. Assume accountability for all programming, operations, and talent recruitment for institute, led by your senior team members, toward maximizing corps member effectiveness and experience. Build and maintain a strong culture among the full time institute team members and ensure this sense of community exists at the part-time staff and corps member levels as well.
Build Relationships with Key Stakeholders (10%)
- Develop and manage strong relationships with key players at the SC Department of Education, the University certification provider, and school partners in order to develop a summer school program for students and training program for corps members. Partner closely with school leaders of Institute sites to ensure institute goals and priorities align with school goals and priorities
- Deep internalization of the tenets of the institute model, including demonstrated commitment to culturally relevant pedagogy.
- Exceptional ability to collaborate with a team of instructional leaders to take strategic action towards ambitious goals.
- Strong to Exceptional ability to build relationships across lines of difference; facilitate honest and productive conflict among diverse groups; create structures, policies, and processes that enable this effort and value the diversity of ideas and perspectives.
- Ability to review, analyze and adapt curriculum against a centralized vision.
- Ability to manage others to outcomes and coach implementation of a curriculum; including strong capacity and skill with providing feedback
- Ability to create and execute strong project/work plans.
- Ability to navigate facilities that may or may not be ADA-compliant. Ability to orient to the TFA core values and empower others to be solutions-oriented and mission-driven.