The Vice President, Corps Member Leadership is responsible for leading our teams who work directly with our region’s members from the moment they are assigned to our region through the end of their second year in the corps. Teaching is a profound act of leadership, and one of our goals is for corps members to lead their students to meaningful academic and personal growth as teachers. The Corps Member Leadership team is also responsible for ensuring corps members are set up with the skills, mindsets and leadership development to a) positively impact their students in culturally responsive ways, b) deeply grapple with the problems and solutions facing our region’s schools and students, and c) build a community of practice, connection and community among corps members so that they are set on a pathway of lifelong impact on educational equity.
The Vice President, Corps Member Leadership will craft a compelling vision and strategy for our corps facing program and execute upon that vision and strategy through their four direct reports: the leaders of our Partnerships & Onboarding, Summer Training, First Year Corps Leadership and Second Year Corps Leadership teams. The Vice President, Corps Member Leadership will lead our programmatic work to ensure we matriculate and onboard a diverse corps of teachers, support those corps members through their training and corps commitment to become effective teachers, and build a culture in which corps members are empowered to realize their life-long commitment to leading for educational equity. The Vice President, Corps Member Leadership will work in deep collaboration with our Senior Managing Director of Alumni Leadership to ensure an effective transition from the corps to alumni experience.
Set Vision and direction for corps member work (20%)
- Create a bold, clear, inspiring, and ambitious vision for our corps member program work aligned to our regional vision, strategic plan, and milestones for the corps member experience and drive execution of that vision across our corps facing teams and internal and external stakeholders. Conduct and annual review of (or develop, depending on the year) strategies for our corps-facing teams, with outcomes/goals and benchmarks to achieve this vision and an aligned budget and staffing model
- In partnership with the Managing Director, Partnerships & Onboarding, ensure our school placement vision, strategy and hiring process maximizes our region’s ability to impact educational equity and set our corps members up for long-term impact
- In partnership with the Managing Director, Summer Training, ensure our summer training (our pre-service training for incoming corps members) model, staffing structure and program maximize member and staff experience and lead to self-reflective, ready-for-day-one teacher leaders
- In partnership with the Managing Directors, Corps Member Experience, set goals, research, and evolve comprehensive student and teacher outcomes measurements in three main domains: academic growth, personal growth, and culturally responsive teaching. Additionally, set goals and strategy around corps member learning and leadership.
- In partnership with the SMD, Alumni Leadership, set vision and co-design the transition into alumnihood of corps members so their personal theories of change and potential for long-term impact are maximized.
Team Leadership and Management (55%)
- Hire, train, coach and manage a diverse team of staff members through layers to meet their goals, using culturally conscious and anti-racist management practices
- Develop career pathways, staffing models and a budget that maximize staff talent, impact on corps members, and diversity, equity and inclusiveness-minded practices
- Create an inspiring and inclusive team culture grounded in the core values, our regional commitments, and culturally conscious and inclusive decision making practices
- In partnership with direct reports, conduct outcomes, causes, and solutions analysis for all corps member facing outcomes to track progress, shift strategy when needed, and manage/communicate progress to goal
- Collaborate with staff members across regional teams, including aligning and supporting the work of our External Affairs and internal Strategy, Talent and Operations teams and serving on the Regional Leadership Team
Build Catalytic Partnerships, Relationships, and Networks (15%)
- Build relationships and alliances with leaders in the Chicago-Northwest Indiana education reform community, including our school, district, and charter partners, university partners, and other community leaders and organizations.
- Develop relationships with corps members via 1:1 or small group experiences to better understand their experience and via leading and/or managing large-scale corps-facing milestones/experiences, including facilitation, that build member culture/connectivity, support corps members, and drive culture
Collective Responsibility Regional Projects (10% of time)
- Fulfill foundational responsibilities that allow our region to do our work, make decisions, grow as professionals, and strengthen our team culture, including but not limited to attending regional meetings, operating with our Core Values and commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness, completing our performance management cycle, and upholding our data management and fiscal responsibilities
- Make a direct impact on the organizational mission of enlisting, developing and mobilizing leaders to strengthen the movement for educational equity by participating in selection (6-10 days total plus preparation and close out time), matriculation (up to six windows across the year), regional recruitment activity, member facing events (including Leadership Summits and Summer Training), our alumni giving campaign, alumni survey and other initiatives that impact our members and partners
- 8+ years of work experience preferred
- Instructional background and experience as a teacher preferred
- Experience managing and coaching adults required, and preferably through layers
Work demands
- Some evenings and weekend work required
- Ability to travel locally to various school sites frequently during work hours
Skills
- Setting vision and direction: Ability to set, evolve and inspire others around a high level vision and direction and support teammates to align all projects to that high level vision
- Managing Team Execution: Ability to manage team execution toward high-quality results taking a high level strategy, breaking it down into manageable projects, and structuring and delegating projects in a way that invests and leverages the strengths of a team
- Building Relationships and Networks: Ability to build strong relationships with others within and outside of the organization and to strengthen relationships in moments of challenge
- Content expertise: Understands adult learning principles and designs coaching, development and learning around them
- Cultural leadership: Model of our Teach For America Core Values, demonstrate passion and commitment to our vision of educational equity for all children, and rely on culturally conscious and anti-racist leadership and management practices and decision-making processes in day-to-day practice.