Teach For America members hold numerous diverse leadership positions across our community, and in each of these unique positions, they share an intense desire to improve the outcomes of students, families, and communities by building a more efficient, effective, and equitable educational system. As the Manager, Program Continuum you will drive the implementation of key strategies across teams that will ensure a successful and impactful experience for our Corps Members and Launch Fellows, ensuring that they have the pre-service orientation and training, social-emotional and instructional supports, leadership development opportunities and the community-based relationships they need to help their schools become even more transformative. In order to continue to build on the momentum of the region, you should deeply believe in contributing to a high performing team, have a bold vision for the power of a coherent, connected network and thrive at building purpose-driven relationships, implementing both long and short-term strategies, and executing relentlessly toward ambitious outcomes.
The number of teachers TFA Colorado will place in Colorado classrooms is projected to grow from 87 this year to nearly 300 in 2021. Our strategic priorities in service to our impact goals include: improving the quality of our member experience, from the prospect phase to the first day of school, through the first two years in the classroom and beyond; creating cross-team efficiencies in our plans to support teachers and school leaders; and, building strong and sustained relationships with our school and community partners.
The Manager, Program Continuum Team will report to the Managing Director, Continuum Strategy.
Member Experience (40%)
- Work collaboratively across the program team to plan member facing events and experiences
- Serve as project manager for select events throughout the year
- Play a key support role in the planning and execution phases of TFA-Colorado’s Theory of Leadership growth and development trajectory for corps members and launch fellows. This trajectory will span two years and will begin with annual Induction 1.0 and 2.0 experiences that orient members to our region and the schools we serve. Key responsibilities in this area will include, but not be limited to:
- Supporting a cross functional Induction project team to
- Recruit and engage current corps members and alumni members in small project planning groups
- Ensure that the Induction plan aligns with our regional vision, achieves increased cost efficiency and sets a solid foundation for future years
- Supporting a cross functional Induction project team to
- Provide technical support to help implement, monitor and adjust the member road map, which is a strategic, cross-team priority. Ensure a set of coherent, connected supports and services to multiple member groups, from early engagement to school and systems leaders
- Support in the build out of project plans that cascade from the member road map
- Support projects that align with the Continuum Support and Experience team’s other strategic priorities
Systems and Structures for Continuous Improvement (25%)
- Shore up and strengthen foundational systems and supports to support internal operations in service of excellent member and partner experiences
- Provide project management support to a number of cross-functional efforts designed to improve the quality and impact of our member experience, and drive towards systems and structures improvement
- Work cross-functionally to capture and codify innovative and effective practices and build viable plans to scale those practices
School and Community Partner Stewardship (20%)
- Support Managing Director, Continuum Strategy’s stewardship of relationships with our partners-- school district, charter schools, community-based organizations and licensing partners-- by providing strategic planning and implementation support
- Maintain and analyze cultivation and stewardship data from district and charter relationships
- Work with the Continuum Strategy team to support the corps member and launch fellow hiring processes
Fulfilling our Mission through Organizational and Regional Priorities(10%)
- Be a partner in local recruitment, matriculation, and onboarding of teachers to Teach For America-Colorado
- Attend regional retreats held throughout the year, monthly staff meetings, and occasional conferences and trainings
Partnerships (5%)
- Work with the External Affairs team to solicit and grow partnerships in service of building the skills, community connections and impact of the educators in our network
- Create systems to make it easy for partners to find us, build and deliver effective content, and assess partnership efficacy
- You care deeply about our students and communities. You believe that every child deserves the opportunity to attain an excellent education, and you believe that, with the right approach, we can achieve that vision.
- You are oriented to solve problems. You approach constraints and challenges with creativity and optimism.
- You have an aptitude for project management and cross-team collaboration.
- You are extremely organized. You set up strong systems for managing deadlines and leave plenty of time to do high-quality work.
- You take strong ownership of your goals, and are unwavering in your pursuit of success.
- You possess a passion and unique ability to foster collaboration among individuals to accomplish something they wouldn’t otherwise do alone.
Prior Experience
- Demonstrated experience and success in all or most of the relevant functional areas (i.e. project management, small to mid-scale event planning, cross team coordination etc.)
- Experience working with and in schools
- Facilitating and project planning in cross-functional team settings and with external partners
- Experience supporting change in a growing organization
Skills
- Superb project management, detail orientation and event planning skills
- Customer service approach to planning and project management
- Building relationships and networks
- Ability to both work independently, and to collaborate with multiple stakeholder groups
- Exceptional written and verbal communication
- Exceptional organizational skills
- Ability to prioritize and manage complex project plans
- Strong team orientation – ability to work cross-functionally across diverse teams
- Ability to communicate professionally to diverse audiences
- Able to work with consistent excellence in a fast-paced, high-performing environment
- Aptitude for learning to think at a systems level and execute strategies at the implementation level
Work Demands
- Ability to work evenings and weekends when necessary
- Local travel required