Director of Professional Learning

Communities in Schools of Tennessee • Nashville (Hybrid) or Select Tennessee Areas (Remote), TN

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Communities In Schools of Tennessee (CISTN) is a nonprofit that partners with K-12 public schools to surround students with a community of support empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. As part of the CIS national network, CISTN achieves this mission by placing program managers in schools across the state to provide school-wide interventions and case managed services for students in need. With a budget of $13M, in academic year 2026-27 we will support 98 employees in 74 schools and serve nearly 35,000 students and families across Tennessee. To best support the students, families, schools, community partners, and our staff members involved in this work, CISTN staff and board members center all decisions, actions, and services on the following core values: Integrity – We openly share how our work is done, and we hold ourselves accountable to the commitments we make. Empathy – We intentionally build relationships so we can learn about people’s stories, validate their experiences, and deepen our understanding of situations different from our own. Equal Opportunity – We identify and work towards removing barriers, so everyone has the opportunity to achieve. Authenticity – We create space for the people we work with, and for, to be their truthful, complete selves without judgement. Collaboration – We bring people together to plan and take action in our work, understanding we make lasting change in partnership with one another.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in education, organizational development, human resources, social work, public administration, or a related field.
• 7-10 years of progressively responsible experience in training, professional learning, workforce development, organizational development, leadership development, program quality, education, youth development, or a related field.
• Work experience can be substituted for those without formal education, requiring 6 + years of direct experience.

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive statewide professional learning strategy for program staff, including Program Directors, Program Managers, and other direct-service team members.
• Establish and maintain a multi-year professional learning framework aligned with organizational priorities, program quality standards, and staff development needs.
• Create and maintain a coherent scope and sequence of core program-related training content to support consistent implementation of the Communities In Schools model across all regions.
• Ensure an effective balance between statewide training priorities and differentiated regional and local learning needs by partnering with VPs of Programs and Program Directors to deeply understand regional and local contexts.
• Collaboratively develop annual professional learning plans and calendars with program leadership.
• Develop relationships with external organizations, networks, and subject matter experts to identify emerging research, practices, resources, and learning opportunities relevant to program implementation and needs of students and families in consultation with the Chief Program Officer.
• Maintain awareness of CIS national training and development resources, leveraging available tools and adapting strategies and resources to CISTN’s local contexts.
• Develop and manage partnerships with external trainers, consultants, and subject matter experts, overseeing selection, contracting, logistics, scheduling, and evaluation to deliver high-quality professional learning opportunities.
• Ensure external content aligns with organizational priorities, program standards, and staff development goals.
• Design, curate, and maintain training materials, facilitator guides, toolkits, learning resources, and implementation supports, leveraging existing internal and external high-quality resources when and where possible.
• Manage programmatic professional learning resources, training documentation, and learning platforms as applicable.
• Develop systems and processes that enable Program Directors and other leaders to effectively plan, track, and facilitate monthly professional learning sessions within their regions.
• Coordinate and facilitate regional and statewide professional learning sessions, workshops, and communities of practice.
• Deliver training directly when appropriate and support others in delivering high-quality learning experiences, modeling effective adult learning practices and foster engaging, inclusive learning environments.
• Build organizational capacity for effective adult learning and facilitation practices among program leaders.
• Provide consultation, coaching, facilitation support, and implementation guidance to Program Directors responsible for facilitating professional learning.
• Convene Program Directors and other leaders to gather feedback, share best practices, and ensure alignment of learning initiatives.
• Support onboarding through development and implementation of role-specific learning pathways for new program staff.
• Identify or create learning experiences and resources that strengthen program-specific leadership competencies, in collaboration with the Director of People Operations.
• Develop leadership readiness and transition supports that enable new program leaders to successfully assume their responsibilities and effectively lead teams.
• Partner with organizational leaders and the Director of People Operations to develop leadership pipelines and career pathways for individual contributors and supervisors.
• Partner with program leaders to identify skill gaps and recommend targeted learning and development strategies.
• Partner with the Chief Program Officer, VPs of Programs, and Program Directors to identify training priorities, implementation challenges, emerging needs, and opportunities for staff development.
• Strategically partner with the Director of People Operations to ensure alignment and integration of professional learning with individual development planning, back-up and succession planning, and performance management.
• Collaborate with the Data Director to highlight areas of excellence, elevating and implementing best practice sharing in professional learning contexts, as well as identify areas for continuous improvement and informing training and development efforts.
• Advise the Chief Program Officer on programmatic professional learning for the Vice Presidents of Programs and other senior leaders.
• Ensure professional learning initiatives support organizational goals, program quality goals and expectations, and continuous improvement.
• Assess training effectiveness through participant feedback, implementation data, performance indicators, and other measures of impact with support from the Director of Data and Director of People Operations.
• Partner with program leadership to identify connections between professional learning investments, program outcomes, and student outcomes.

Benefits

• Employee medical, dental, vision, short-and-long-term disability insurance premiums are 100% employer-paid, with some dependent health plans including an employer contribution.
• Paid parental leave.
• 15 paid vacation days, 10 sick days, 4 floating holidays, 10 other paid holidays, and an extended winter break.
• 401(k) match up to 2%.
• Cell phone stipend.
• Individual professional development budget and up to $1,500/year educational expense reimbursement.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager