Director of Adult Education

City of Philadelphia•Philadelphia, PA

4h•Onsite

About The Position

A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. The City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact, valuing inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work. It provides a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and opportunities for growth. The Mayor’s Office of Education (MOE) aligns the City’s policies, resources, and educational services, administering programs like Adult Education, Extended Day-Extended Year, Community Schools, Catto scholarships, and Foster Grandparents. Adult Education Philadelphia (AEPHL), part of MOE, oversees the City’s planning and investments in adult education, ensuring equitable access to foundational educational opportunities for adults 16 years and older who need support in reading, writing, math, English language proficiency, digital fluency, or high school completion. Programs include centralized intake, assessment, and referral; adult education classes (GED, HiSET, Basic skills, ESL); volunteer literacy tutor training; and digital skills development. The Executive Director (ED) serves as a senior leader within MOE, reporting to the Deputy Chief Education Officer. The ED is responsible for effective planning, management, and administration of adult education initiatives, including project planning, financial and grant management, compliance, and development/monitoring of initiatives. The role requires strong organizational, managerial, project management, financial, and collaborative skills, and the ability to develop and implement long-term strategies. The ED manages a team of five staff, with two direct reports: the Senior Manager of Providers and the Senior Manager of Professional Development & Training.

Requirements

Master’s Degree from an accredited institution in Education, Adult Education, or a related field.
At least 7 years of experience managing adult learning services.
At least 5 years of experience designing, developing, implementing, and sustaining large-scale educational programs.
Experienced with the implementation and management of complex government and private grants.
Must be detail oriented with the ability to work with diverse populations and possess strong interpersonal skills.
Experience working with and developing new trends in adult learning instruction.
Must have experience in managing and supervising staff.
Excellent organizational skills.
Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Understanding of and experience in preparing financial/budget reports.
Demonstrated understanding of the challenges facing adult education populations.
Strong work ethic and enthusiasm for connecting adults to skills.
Knowledge of Student Information Systems and Learner Management Systems.
An innovative and consistent professional dedicated to serving adult education populations.
Unquestioned personal and professional integrity.
The successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire.
Ability to lead in a large and complex organization.
Can manage up and down, capable of aligning program goals with City priorities.
Ability to work within budget.
Ability to effectively collaborate with colleagues in the Mayor’s Office and across the City.
Can comfortably manage uncertainty.
Ability to understand, create and implement project workflows.
Effective management of staff and vendors through complex systems.
Comfort level with evidence-based practices, ability to establish meaningful outcomes measures to drive program success.
Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately.
Has broad knowledge and perspective.
Can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.
Can see opportunities for synergy and integration.
Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in his/her team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement long-term strategies to achieve the mission and goals for Adult Education program to meet the needs of Philadelphia adult learners.
Develop policies and procedures, including identifying systems for efficient program administration, record-keeping, data management, financial management, grant management, and reporting to make data-driven decisions to continuously improve program effectiveness and student outcomes.
Strategic development, implementation and alignment within adult education, workforce, and digital literacy landscapes, integrating within complimentary systems.
Leverage existing investments, programs, and organizations in supporting this work.
Maintain an understanding of current implementation challenges and developing comprehensive solutions to address them.
Synthesize multiple perspectives and strategies into a cohesive product that operationalizes and leads to development.
Coordinate research and other activities with initiative partners to minimize redundancies and to align strategies and actions, including conducting individual outreach and education as needed.
Act as a thought leader within the adult education and training community in Philadelphia.
Maintain current and develop new effective programmatic partnerships and referral networks.
Maintain working partnerships with local Title II adult literacy providers, Philadelphia Works, Inc., various City departments (e.g., Parks & Recreation, the Free Library, and Commerce), City Council, State and National stakeholders and other adult education, digital literacy, and workforce entities.
Work with all levels of partner organizations to move the work.
Work with providers and existing network of literacy providers.
Serve as a liaison between the literacy community and city agencies.
Oversee daily operations and establish and maintain appropriate systems for measuring necessary aspects of operational management.
Monitor and report on programmatic issues, opportunities, and achievements within agreed formats and timelines.
Communicate the objectives to the community and potential partners, including sharing the strategic plan or other collateral.
Facilitate communication between partners by hosting regular conference calls, in-person meetings, or coordinating regular email updates to ensure alignment of activity.
Identify improvements in use of data-driven decision-making and ensuring that data is collected, integrated, and communicated effectively across the organization.
Ensure all partners are aware of targets and indicators.
Oversee data collection, analysis, and reporting in collaboration with the Performance Management and Technology (PMT) of OCF.
Manage the creation of yearly summary reports of progress for internal and external audiences.
Provide direct supervision and coaching to staff.
Responsible for hiring, conducting performance evaluations, and developing corrective action related to performance of employees.
Establish, facilitate, and execute effective and open communication with staff, particularly related to internal decisions and strategy.
Foster a positive and collaborative work environment that supports staff growth and engagement through teamwork, excellence, innovation, and collaboration.
Set clear expectations and goals for the team and ensure their successful implementation.
Manage a budget of $2M+ includes budget preparation and expenditure tracking.
Identify new programmatic needs and funding opportunities.
Assist in preparing grant requests, RFPs, and contracts.
Review and approve invoices.
Serve a part of MOE Senior Leadership team.
Contribute to planning and execution of department wide programs and activities.
Participate in activities and events that advance Mayor’s education priorities.
As assigned by Deputy Chief Education Officer of Chief Education officer.

Benefits

Impact - The work you do here matters to millions.
Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it?
Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs.
Benefits - We care about your well-being.
City employees get unlimited FREE public transportation all year long through SEPTA’s Key Advantage program.
Employees can ride on SEPTA buses, subways, trolleys, and regional rail for their daily commute and more.
The City offers its employees 8 weeks of paid parental leave.
Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents.
Our wellness program offers eligibility into the discounted medical plan.
Employees receive paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays.
Generous retirement savings options are available.
As a qualifying employer, City of Philadelphia employees are eligible to participate in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
The City of Philadelphia has forged partnerships with over a dozen esteemed colleges and universities in the area, ensuring that our employees have access to a wide range of tuition discounts and scholarships.
Savings of 10% to 40% on your educational expenses, extending not only to City employees but in some cases, spouse and dependents too!