School Network Staff Director of Enrichment (Physical Education & the Arts)
Job Description
Start Date: July 2021
Team: Team Teaching and Learning
Location: Brooklyn, NY, New Haven, CT, or Providence, RI
Who are we? Achievement First (AF) exists to address the legacy of racism in education in America. Our mission is to deliver on the promise of equal educational opportunity for all of America’s children. That is what we work for every day. We know that all children—regardless of race, zip code, or economic status—deserve access to great schools. At the core of our approach is our shared journey by our students and staff to fulfill our incredible potential.
Just the facts. Achievement First has consistently been rated one of the top charter school networks in the country, AND we are still learning and growing. AF is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that currently supports 37 public charter schools in New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. The mission of AF is to deliver on the promise of equal educational opportunity for all children. We currently employ more than 2,000 staff — 47% of whom identify as Black, Latinx, or Multi-racial — who collectively educate more than 14,300 students in Brooklyn, NY; Providence, RI; and New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford CT. More than 85% of our students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Our students are proving what’s possible by achieving breakthrough results in terms of academic achievement and long-term college persistence.
Our focus and reach extend beyond the students and communities that we serve directly. Achievement First is an engaged and prominent partner in the broader education-reform movement, partnering with schools and networks from across the country and openly sharing all our resources with educators free of charge. We currently serve more than 100,000 additional students through two key partnership initiatives. Our Charter Network Accelerator is an intensive cohort-based training program for CMO leaders (with a focus on leaders of color) who are looking to increase the number of top-quality options available to parents across the country; and through our Navigator Program, we provide coaching and support for district and charter schools who want to adopt and adapt our curriculum and instructional practices to help students achieve breakthrough results.
Why work at Achievement First? First and foremost: you should work at AF if you believe in our values and want to surround yourself with people who share them. We are committed to leading for racial equity. We approach our work with humility, humanity, and the recognition that both what we do and how we do it must model the equity we seek. We strive for excellence by setting a high bar in all areas and pursuing it relentlessly. We care about the whole person and are known to be as warm as we are demanding. We choose joy and actively seek out moments of humor, gratitude, and deeper purpose for ourselves and with each other. We know that we will go further together and intentionally choose to join forces on both big and small things. We name brutal facts, embrace challenges, and see our mistakes as opportunities to get better.
Finally, come to Achievement First if you want to help support schools that are striving to redefine what’s possible in education. We are obsessed with getting better and are working to create some of the best schools in the country – schools that support not just students’ academic success but also their social-emotional learning, identity development, independence as learners, passion/enrichment/extracurriculars, and life-long fulfillment. AND, at AF, we believe getting better starts with looking in the mirror. We have done a lot of that lately, as we have more aggressively confronted our own biases and unacceptable gaps in our student experience. We are committed to addressing inequity within our systems, culture, and practices and resolve to do the critical work needed to ensure equity for our scholars and staff. So, come to Achievement First if reflection, challenge, and growth feed your soul.
Achievement First’s Enrichment Program
At Achievement First, we want students to love school, explore their interests, and cultivate a strong sense of community. We believe that the arts and physical education are an essential part of the broad education our students need and deserve. Our enrichment program gives students opportunities to dive into physical education, visual arts, music, dance, and theater. AF students become passionate practitioners of a specific discipline who can use their acquired skills and knowledge to impact the community and world around them.
Role Summary
An integral member of Team Teaching & Learning, the Director of Enrichment will work with enrichment teachers, school leaders, and network teams to drive the vision behind an exemplary enrichment program and provide professional development and program support.
This role is an opportunity to work closely with some of the leading education reformers in the country while gaining insight into education reform within a top charter school management organization. The ideal candidate has deep content knowledge in physical education or the arts, is a strong leader of people, and is driven by a desire to realize an anti-racist vision for schooling. A background as a school leader or district content expert is also preferred, but not required.
Responsibilities of the Director of Enrichment will include but are not limited to:
- While Engaging Key Stakeholders, Redesign our Enrichment Support Approach
- At Achievement First, enrichment classes have not consistently been given the priority they deserve. We know that in order to ensure a strong student experience, students need to have access to high quality programs in physical education and the arts that are engaging, rigorous and valued. This is a critical equity issue for our students and an important change for Achievement First. It will require:
- Strong adaptive leadership skills
- The ability to plan strategically and operationalize that plan
- A love of the arts and physical education and a recognition in the value enrichment courses bring to our schools
- Manage Program Vision and Implementation
- Identify program strengths and areas of improvement.
- Identify program changes, shifts and priorities with input and investment from teachers and leaders.
- Plan and Facilitate Professional Development
- Create a yearly scope and sequence of enrichment professional development focused on instructional planning (unit/lesson), lesson execution (observation & feedback), and student work review (products and performances).
- Plan, facilitate, and support professional development sessions for enrichment teachers, enrichment leaders, and enrichment teacher coaches.
- Train and Support Enrichment Teacher Coaches
- Work with the Enrichment Team, set the vision for teacher coaching across schools.
- Train teacher coaches to be able to meet the vision.
- Support coaches through regular meetings, co-observations, and review of ongoing enrichment data.
- Lead Enrichment Assessment
- Update the enrichment assessment strategy and processes to reflect program priorities and goals.
- Collect, analyze, and act on enrichment data.
- Engage stakeholders on Teacher Career Pathways (TCP) for Enrichment and propose changes to strengthen the program.
- Manage Teacher Career Pathways assessment process including the evaluation of portfolios.
- Support Enrichment Recruitment
- Support AF’s Enrichment talent strategy by identifying strong potential teachers in all content areas, cultivating relationships, and coordinating with Team Recruit and school principals.
- At Achievement First, enrichment classes have not consistently been given the priority they deserve. We know that in order to ensure a strong student experience, students need to have access to high quality programs in physical education and the arts that are engaging, rigorous and valued. This is a critical equity issue for our students and an important change for Achievement First. It will require:
Skills and Characteristics
- Brings an Equity Lens to the Core Work: Consistently ensures that the Leading for Racial Equity lens will be a required, explicit part of priority planning, goal-setting, professional development planning, and progress monitoring for school leaders and network leaders
- Practices Self-Awareness: Consistently reflects on “How am I positioned (relative to privilege and/or oppression) in all aspects of my identities (e.g. race, class, gender, language)? How might these identities impact people and our process?”
- Focuses on Relational Trust and Human Values: Notices and actively repairs broken trust/relationships; notices and addresses patterns of exclusion in meetings and 1:1 interactions; holds time to address and lean into non-discussables.
- Designs with not for: Actively looks for and insists on decision-making that requires us to listen, learn, and co-create with the people most impacted by work/decisions.
- Utilizes a Growth Mindset: Consistently identifies and addresses gaps in previous mindsets/skills and perceives the strength and performance of others through a growth mindset. Actively seeks feedback to improve and demonstrates growth in response to feedback.
- Employs Strategic Thinking: Utilizes multiple perspectives and data points to drive to a clear understanding of the current state relative to organizational goals and best practices and pushes for deeper understandings of how and why this came to be. Sets clear, obtainable, and timely goals which move work and the program forward and proactively plans how to involve and invest others in those goals.
- Analyzes and Responds to Data: Accurately identifies strengths and gaps based on existing data, considers additional information which may/may not be included in the dataset and provides specific insights based upon multiple data points.
Educational Background and Work Experience
- A bachelor’s degree
- Four or more years teaching enrichment (physical education, visual arts, music, dance or theater)
- Proven track record of being able to enlist others in a shared vision and fuel investment from stakeholders (students, parents, staff, leaders, board members)
- We would prefer a candidate with two or more years of experience in teacher coaching, two or more years of highly successful leadership experience at the school or district level, or an advanced degree in the arts or physical education.
Occasional weekend or evening work and travel within New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are required.
Compensation
Salary for this position is competitive and commensurate with experience. Additionally, Achievement First offers a comprehensive benefits package.
To Apply
Send your resume to this application form.
Achievement First is an equal opportunity employer and an organization that values diversity. People from all diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. Spanish language proficiency is a plus. You can learn more about diversity at Achievement First here: http://www.achievementfirst.org/about-us/diversity/.
