The Director, Institute Partnerships will be responsible for setting the vision for an overseeing the implementation of Institute partnership programming, summer school student curriculum, and our mentor teacher leadership development. Institute is a seven-week program designed to further the development of pre-service teachers and the summer learning for students. We approach this with a keen focus on integration (prioritizing content-specific training, classroom culture, and teaching as social justice), exposure to models, rehearsal and reflection as the path to internalization and development, and building a hunger in our teachers to drive their own growth. This is a tall order in such a short time period, and it requires strategic alignment of our Institute vision and the vision of Districts and our Institute partners.
The D, Institute Partnerships is responsible for stewarding the ongoing work of our partners so they are also receiving benefit from Institute in alignment with their mission and goals. The goal of our partnership work is to improve the learning experiences and outcomes for all students in this city through collaboration, organizational learning, and open dialogue about possibilities for collective work in the future. Teach For America DFW Summer Institute will enable our partner organizations to expand their reach and impact on students as they bring their strengths to enhance our current pre-service training model.
The D, Institute Partnerships is a member of the Corps Programing- Onboarding and Institute Team, so he or she may also engage in the larger work of our program continuum design and execution so that he or she is plugged into the experience our members have outside of Institute.
The primary responsibilities of the D, Institute Partnership include, but are not limited to:
Institute Partnerships (50%)
- Partner with the SMD, OI, in establishing new or reestablishing District partnerships for the upcoming summer school site(s).
- Coordinate with Director, Matriculation and Onboarding and other district personnel to make strategic proposals for summer school site selection and student enrollment and to ensure program alignment with certification partner needs.
- Build networks and partner with people in the district to ensure district summer school goals/priorities are included in TFA Institute goals (academic goals, enrollment goals, and teacher/faculty mentor development goals) and to ensure TFA can access data from the district to report on end of summer outcomes.
- Partner with the district, school sites, and TFA TLD Leadership Team to create vision and plans for the faculty mentor role. Work with district and school sites to train faculty mentors. This also includes ensuring alignment between instructional coaching and mentor teacher expectations.
- Manage Institute School Directors to ensure alignment between District and institute needs. This includes, recruiting, selecting, designing and facilitating the spring training School Director scope and sequence, ensure School Directors are set up to collaborate with District Partners and the management of school-based staff.
Student Curriculum (30%)
- Set vision and manage the development of student curriculum for summer school in partnership with District partners and the D, Institute Professional Learning.
- Manage a team of curriculum writers to produce summer school student lessons.
- Audit the previous summer’s professional learning curriculum in partnership with our district to set goals and vision for a re-vamp.
- Recruit, hire, and train a team of curriculum writers to enhance and write curriculum that meets goals set with the district.
- Monitor team progress and develop learning experiences as necessary to ensure curriculum writers can produce curriculum that meets a set of expected outcomes.
- Create an online platform for curriculum access that can be shared with TFA staff, TFA corps members, district teachers, and other partners.
General Management (15%)
- Lead a high performing (team/individuals) to achieve ambitious results. Leverage, empower, coach and develop team members to deliver excellence. Develop and sustain the conditions for a trusting and inclusive team environment. Collaborate with other regional managers to collectively drive towards regional talent goals.
Serve as an active member of the TFA DFW Community (5%)
- Live out our core values and commitment to diversity, equity and inclusiveness to actively support a trusting and inclusive work environment. Participate in regional all-hands on deck responsibilities and events, including but not limited to: corps members selection and matriculation, InDUCKtion, Saturday All-Corps Conference, Alumni Gala, All Staff Meetings and Celebrations and 10th Year Anniversary Fundraiser.
- TFA Corps experience preferred, but not required
Work Demands
- Some evenings and weekends required
- Ability to travel to school sites and meetings across the DFW metroplex
- Desire to work on project based work with periods of work requiring lots of individual contribution and other periods of work requiring lots of team collaboration
Skills
- Ability to build relationships and connect with others across lines of difference
- Strong written communication skills for telling the story of impact and communicating regularly with stakeholders
- Skills analyzing data to make decisions and report on impact
- Make smart choices about what to prioritize and what matters most over a quarter, a month, and a week
- Ability to project plan for 6-18 months, while taking into account stakeholder schedules and roles
- Ability to engage in difficult conversations
- Reflect and proactively work to grow and improve
- Engage in personal development around diversity, equity, and inclusiveness
- Decision making and judgment that takes into account key stakeholder interests, the impact on equity, and organizational stewardship