Posted: March 31, 2010

Today, America faces a profound educational achievement gap. Nationwide, African-American students lag behind their white peers by two grade levels in fourth-grade and four grade levels by twelfth-grade. The high school dropout rate in America’s 50 biggest cities hovers near 50 percent, and the college graduation rate for wealthy students is seven times that of their low-income counterparts. The scope of the crisis is clear.

Research demonstrates that the quality of teachers and school leaders is the single biggest in-school determinant of academic success. Over the past fifteen years, a growing movement of entrepreneurial organizations has emerged to raise the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders. Currently, however, few organizations target their support at mid-level teacher leaders, those individuals who drive student achievement both in their classrooms and as coaches, department chairs, mentor teachers, grade-level team leaders, Deans of Students, and curriculum coordinators.

Leading Educators, New Orleans, is a training program that aims to close the achievement gap by developing highly-effective mid-level teacher leaders in open admissions public schools in Greater New Orleans. The program has four primary objectives:

• Provide teacher leaders with high quality professional development that embeds personal leadership skills and skills in key leverage areas such as instructional leadership, systematic use of formative assessment, culture building, behavior management, and performance management.
• Directly improve schools by increasing the capacity of mid-level leaders to raise student achievement, create orderly and aspirational school environments, and lead mission-focused teams.
• Build a talent pipeline of aspiring, high potential leaders in open admissions urban schools by identifying and retaining teachers who have strong leadership potential.
• Build a network of aligned educators across the region who can collaborate over the long-term on local school improvement efforts.

For the past year and a half, FirstLine Schools, a successful charter management organization in New Orleans, in partnership with New Leaders for New Schools has developed the Leading Educators program, training 34 teacher leaders from 24 schools across the city. This pilot program is now enrolling its third cohort. At the same time, the organization is embarking upon a national expansion. This is an opportunity to work on a small entrepreneurial team in New Orleans in conjunction with a national expansion team.

The Position: Program Director, New Orleans
The Program Director will be responsible for overall day to day leadership and program management of the New Orleans Leading Educators site, ensuring the New Orleans program achieves its objectives. In addition to overall leadership and management of the program, this director-level position leads various work streams, including participant recruitment, marketing and community partnerships, financial and administrative systems management, and talent management. Also, the Program Director will support national expansion efforts, local fundraising, and program design, delivery, and evaluation.

Specific Responsibilities:
The Program Director will have primary responsibility for the following work streams:

• Overall Program Leadership and Management
o Effectively lead and manage the project team
o Forge a mission focused staff team
o Lead local strategic management cycle
• Participant Recruitment: Attraction and Selection
o Develop and implement Greater New Orleans recruitment strategy, including:
? researching prospective recruits and nominators
? developing systems for tracking outreach to prospective candidates and nominators
? creating local marketing materials in conjunction with the national Recruiting team
? building relationships with nonprofit organizations and other community stakeholders
? track applicants and ensure quality managed response process
o Working with national team, refine overall Selection Criteria, Participant Profile, Application materials and Selection Process
o Manage all details of the Selection Process, including running the Interview and Assessment sessions
• Marketing and Community Partnerships
o Build organization's profile and coordinate its work with partner organizations and other stakeholders
o Oversee development of website and marketing materials
• Talent Management
o Design workstream allocation and provide overall management
o Recruit talented staff
o Manage performance of staff
o Ensure professional development of staff to meet the program’s mission
• Financial and Administrative Systems Management
o Manage/oversee the program's budget and finances
o Manage data, information and web systems interface and updates with external talent/vendors
o Ensure organizational infrastructure and program administration and operations provide effective support to recruiting and program workstreams

The Program Director will have supervisory and support responsibilities for the following areas:

• Local Fundraising
o Support local fundraising efforts, including:
? Cultivating donor relationships
? Grant-writing
? Researching public funding streams and applying for appropriate funding streams
• Program Design and Delivery
o Work with Program Manager and national team to support on-going training design process
o Supervise and support Program Manager to ensure quality delivery of all aspects of training program
• Program Evaluation
o Assist with design of robust evaluation systems to measure program impact
o Supervise and support Program Manager to track participant development and overall program evaluation data

Additionally, the Program Director will lead overall local program development and provide thought partnership for expansion efforts outside the region. Also, the Program Director will assume all other responsibilities as determined by the Senior Project Consultant and/or the CEO.

Personal Characteristics
The ideal candidate will possess the following mindsets and skills:

• Unrelenting commitment to creating outstanding open admissions urban schools for all students in Greater New Orleans
• High level of personal accountability, initiative and eagerness to improve the program
• Willingness to work hard, including evening and weekend events
• Willingness to learn and seek consistent feedback to continually improve performance
• Positive attitude, flexibility and sense of humor, even when faced with challenging situations
• Strong interpersonal skills and people management skills
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Enjoy and skilled at cultivating relationships with external stakeholders
• Excellent project management, organizational and problem-solving skills with meticulous attention to detail
• Ability to manage several workstreams simultaneously
• Ability to carefully manage the organization’s finances with support from an accounting department
• Ability to work within limited budget to ambitious timelines
• Ability to analyze data and adjust strategy based on the implications of the analysis
• Able to design and continually improve administrative systems

Qualifications:
• Fluency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint) and basic Web browsers and searches required; Strong database skills, familiarity with Salesforce a plus; social networking and website experience highly desirable
• At least 4 years professional experience in educational or non-profit management or administration preferred
• Successful K-12 teaching experience is preferred but not required
• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred but not required

Reports to:
The Program Director reports to the Senior Project Consultant in the short term and will report to the CEO (once hired).

Compensation
Salary commensurate with experience, plus benefits.
Start Date: May or June 2010

To Apply:
• Visit http://www.firstlineschools.org/training-programs/leading-educators/jobs.html
• Craft a cover letter explaining your interest in the New Orleans educational system and this position
• Submit your resume and cover letter to LE People Development at leadingeducators@firstlineschools.org

For Leading Educators program information, please visit us at www.leadingeducators.org