Northside Achievement Zone – Education Director

The Northside Achievement Zone – Education Director

The NAZ Promise Neighborhood is a collaboration of over 50 organizations and schools who work with children and families in a geographic area, or “Zone” of North Minneapolis to build a culture of achievement so that all youth graduate college ready. We will do this by partnering with schools, organizations, and families to significantly improve education and guarantee opportunities to support for children from pre-birth to college.

Position Overview: The Education Director provides leadership, supervision and training to the Academic Navigators as they provide “high touch” support to students by tracking and monitoring their performance, establishing individualized academic achievement plans that support college-readiness at every grade-level, and partnering with students and their families to follow-through on those plans. The Director coordinates and supports education and training for school leadership and staff, and serves as a connector and partner to the other NAZ service providers along the education pipeline, from early childhood, to K-12 school-based, to out of school time, to college. This will ensure the effective coordination of high quality services and supports along the continuum of a child’s life.

The overall goal of the Education Director is to prepare all children in NAZ for college by providing expertise and knowledge in improving academic achievement for all students in NAZ with a special focus on those most at-risk of academic failure, and to help design and implement systems within NAZ that create a culture of academic achievement within families, schools, students and the broader community.

Primary Responsibilities: Education Team Leadership, Management and Supervision:

§Provide strategic and operational leadership for the education-focused components of NAZ to ensure that all NAZ students increase their academic performance and are on track for college.

§Promote results-orientation and innovation in all programming.

§Develop processes and protocols to facilitate “high touch” support to students and families in NAZ.

§Work in coordination with school staff, Academic Navigators, academic out of school time partners and parents to monitor students’ academic progress and address behavioral issues.

§Meet weekly or more frequently as needed with cohort teams to review family data, track progress and identify actions to support family goals.

§Work with Engagement and Project Services Director to develop program implementation pathways across teams to drive family achievement outcomes.

Partner Collaboration:

§Develop trusting relationships with school staff, district administration and parents within NAZ.

§Collaborate with schools and college-readiness partners to develop a NAZ-specific curriculum for use in schools, out of school time, and parent education venues.

§Coordinate and support training for school staff in accordance with the school-based strategy outlined in NAZ Plan.

§Partner with district administrators and school leadership to facilitate agreed upon education transformation strategy through the zone schools.

§Participate in meetings with other Action Team leads along the Education pipeline to ensure coordination of high impact strategies for students in the zone.

§Develop and oversee a team of Academic Navigators that are focused on achieving results. Supervision responsibilities include managing day-to-day workload; monitoring and supporting the effectiveness of their work through ongoing evaluation, real-time feedback and progress tracking tied to student outcomes.

Supervision Responsibility:

§Academic Navigators

Job Qualifications:

Minimum Education and Experience

MA degree in education, public administration or related field; and 5 years experience in leadership role within education sector of similar size, or a combination of equivalent experience and training

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities include:

§Knowledge of successful urban education methodology. § Ability to supervise, coach and mentor others to develop and sustain high performance. §Ability to prepare clearly written summaries and analysis. §Ability to maintain confidential information. §Ability to work collaboratively as a member of an internal team, as well as in collaboration with community partners. § Ability to communicate effectively interpersonally and in group presentations. § Ability to handle heavy workload and meet deadlines. §Ability to work with high level of proficiency in Microsoft Office software including Word, Excel, Access and Outlook. §Knowledge of professional development training, including understanding technology and data management systems. § Ability to work collaboratively and respectfully with a variety of people and groups and to represent NAZ effectively.§ Commitment to the expectation that children growing up in North Minneapolis can succeed in academics and college.

Competitive salary and benefits.

Email cover letter and resume to:

Ms. Eli Cortes
Interim HR Generalist
jobs@the-naz.org

Applications accepted through April 19, 2012