Managing Director of Teaching and Learning

KIPP • Newark, NJ

5h • $145,000 - $185,000

About The Position

The Managing Director of Teaching & Learning is a key member of the regional leadership team and the KIPP TEAM & Family Teaching & Learning Team. This role will be largely Newark-based, with periodic travel to other KIPP regions and events as needed.

Requirements

• Kid and teacher-focused: makes recommendations and plans based on what is best for kids and teachers; exhibits a front-line obsession.
• Leadership experience -- has served as a School Leader or network leader for five years or more. As a coach and leader for other leaders in our organization, the person in this role needs to have walked the walk.
• Exceptional content knowledge and alignment to our instructional vision -- knows the ins and outs of everything related to standards, assessments, and best practices within the discipline.
• Strong data analysis skills: can look at an assessment and data set (including sets of student work), diagnose challenges, and immediately recommend clear next steps for instructional leaders and/or teachers.
• Presence and gravitas: can command the attention of a room when delivering feedback, explaining data, or leading professional development.
• Responsiveness, service orientation, and ability to invest and inspire others -- the T&L TEAM exists to support and serve our schools, and so a top-down mentality will not work well.
• Big picture thinking -- can develop and drive a vision that will serve schools across multiple cities. Does not get bogged down by logistics or uncertainty.
• Detail-orientation -- while keeping an eye trained on the big picture, simultaneously does not let important details slip through the cracks.
• Excellent communication skills -- can speak and write compellingly about the discipline and all the nitty gritty details stakeholders will need to know in order to achieve results.
• Proactiveness – does not wait for explicit direction but rather asks the appropriate questions and self-directs; takes on additional projects without compromising the integrity of existing ones.
• Flexibility -- sees unforeseen obstacles and challenges as an opportunity to design a better solution
• Content knowledge and expertise -- ideally in the early elementary school context, but if not, the ability to quickly and comprehensively learn content in order to consistently coach to a higher bar.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Implementation and Management of a World-Class Academic Program in Newark
• Design and implement a strategy for curriculum and assessment adoption and/or modification and improvement, to meet the demands of the range of standardized tests we hold as our north star: i-Ready, mCLASS DIBELS, NJSLA, ACT/SAT, and AP.
• Develop and oversee systems and protocols for quality control and vetting of curricular materials, assessments, and professional development resources.
• Develop and oversee systems for data-driven instruction that facilitates the analysis of and response to mastery data and students’ GPA.
• Actively respond to data (achievement, observation, perception, etc.) to engage in year-over-year improvement of program, as well as mid-year course corrections as needed.
• Collaborate with Heads of Schools to deploy talent and resources (e.g. additional coaching support, model leadership, etc.), based on takeaways from academic progress monitoring.
• Manage all academics and academic operations matters in the region, including but not limited to: report cards, grading and gradebooks, state testing coordination, curriculum purchasing, data and progress monitoring of academics, region-wide academic course correction, scheduling, etc.
• Lead region-wide processes for driving student outcomes such as state testing, academic progress monitoring, test preparation, etc.
• Develop and/or cultivate subject matter expertise across grades and disciplines K-12, in order to inform NJ-specific academic policies and decision-making about programs.
• Collaborate with the Data Team to develop and monitor outcomes on KIPP NJ dashboards.
• Develop and Lead a Teaching & Learning TEAM in Newark
• Work as a “bridge” between program and school management, by building relationships and investment with all parties and supporting the efficacy of T&L teammates in our schools.
• Develop the short-term and long-term strategy for growth and build-out of the Teaching & Learning TEAM in Newark.
• Directly manage Achievement Directors in Newark, including but not limited to weekly check-ins, observations and feedback on practice, and curriculum and artifact review. This will include working in schools across K - 12.
• Achievement Directors are responsible for:
• Managing an academic program (curriculum, assessment, implementation support) that upholds our vision for literacy or math instruction and long-term learning in a specific grade band and subject area. This looks like:
• With support and oversight from the broader T&L TEAM, adapt and/or create curriculum and assessments to meet the demands of the KIPP: NJ context, prioritizing places where the data most demands it.
• Work from the curriculum resources our schools have adopted, and continue to iterate on and modify these materials based on data and needs.
• Develop or modify rigorous assessments that align to the grade level expectations for each grade, and progress developmentally as our students advance in reading level proficiency.
• Develop (and modify as needed) the scope and sequence of lessons in the assigned grade and subject.
• Prepare module overviews and guidance for internalization for each unit of study.
• Monitor the implementation of the curriculum, and make and communicate changes and improvements to content as needed.
• Review and respond to assessment data by making adjustments and modifications to the curriculum and/or by deploying coaching support to places most in need.
• Collaborate with the broader Teaching & Learning team to design and implement superior protocols for intellectual preparation, looking at student work, and responding to data.
• Coaching and supporting the implementation of an academic program in a specific grade band and subject area. This looks like:
• Provide direct support to our elementary schools in Grades K - 2, by engaging in coaching & strategy sessions with each elementary school in our Miami region.
• By working with instructional leaders in each school across K - 8, build our school-based leaders’ content knowledge and instructional leadership capacity -- this may include engaging in walk-throughs, student work analysis protocols, coaching O3s, leading and monitoring content meetings, supporting PD implementation, and more.
• Analyze data and student work from major assessments with instructional leaders at each school and make recommendations about responding to misconceptions and implementing instructional next steps.
• Serve as a point person for all things programmatic, operational, data-related, and logistical – from assessment questions to materials management – related to early elementary education in KIPP Miami.
• Leading and engaging in professional development in a specific grade band and subject area. This looks like:
• As a resident content expert, lead professional development for leaders and teachers in accordance with the T&L team’s annual professional development strategy, including AP Cohort Meetings, One TEAM, One Sound, Leading For Learning, Heartbeat Summit, etc. Note that, depending on the PD strategy, group sizes for professional development sessions may exceed 100 depending on the PD venue.
• Support content TEAM meetings in elementary literacy or math, on an as-needed basis.
• Engage in research and professional development opportunities within and outside of the T&L team, to continuously grow and develop our team’s knowledge based, spread best practices, and improve on our collective coaching and leadership skills.
• Collaborate with members of the Teaching & Learning across KIPP New Jersey and KIPP Miami on best practice sharing.
• Report to the KIPP TEAM & Family Schools Chief Academic Officer on key school health metrics, with dotted line reporting to the regional Executive Director.
• Serve as an Outstanding TEAMmate on the KIPP New Jersey Regional Leadership TEAM
• Serve as a key member of the New Jersey Regional Leadership TEAM, supporting with and communicating about region-wide decision-making, communication, and collaboration.
• Collaborate with Executive Directors and Heads of Schools in KIPP New Jersey and other prospective NJ regions in order to diagnose and support overall School Health.
• Develop regional strategies for driving improvements in academics, culture, and staff engagement alongside other members of the regional leadership team.
• Serve as a panelist or speaker at New Jersey region-wide events like Staff Town Halls; One TEAM, One Sound; regional professional development days, etc.
• Participate in EKG Walk-Through processes, to objectively score schools on instructional practice and to generate feedback designed to move schools forward.
• Participate in teacher rubric scoring and rating, to help schools norm their scoring and calibrate the rubric scores for all teachers in a building.
• Participate in and/or lead routine meetings with the NJ RLT and the T&L team, to solve tactical matters, engage in strategic work together, build vertical content knowledge and program, etc.
• Participate in routine and non-routine meetings with Heads of Schools, School Leaders, and APs, to solve tactical matters, engage in strategic work together, and respond to the most pressing needs our schools have.

Benefits

• Robust benefits that include medical, dental, and vision
• Optional participation in our 403b retirement plan, including matching contributions
• A school-issued laptop
• Generous Time-Off, including some school vacation weeks, allocated sick and personal days
• Up to 12 weeks 100% parental leave for primary caregivers
• Employer paid life insurance
• Extensive optional ancillary benefits including, short term and long term disability and accident and hospital indemnity
• Transportation benefits for TEAMmates commuting into Newark from the New York City area

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Education Level: No Education Listed