Operations / Administration Education Entrepreneur Fellow
Job Description
Overview
The Mind Trust is an Indianapolis-based education nonprofit that works to build a system of schools that gives every student in Indianapolis, no exceptions, access to a high-quality education. The Mind Trust does this by building a supportive environment for schools through policy and community engagement, empowering talented, diverse educators to launch new schools, and providing existing schools with the support they need to hire world-class talent and achieve excellence. Since 2006, The Mind Trust has supported the launch of 45 schools, 15 education nonprofit organizations, and has helped place more than 1,750 teachers and school leaders in Indianapolis classrooms. Learn more at themindtrust.org.
About Education Entrepreneur Fellowships at The Mind Trust
The Education Entrepreneur Fellowship (EEF) funds leaders who will launch an initiative aimed at addressing specific barriers in our education system that impact students and families. Fellows receive full funding for one to two years, as well as ongoing resources and support. Previously successful ventures have impacted teacher retention, parent advocacy, and created a unified enrollment system.
The Mind Trust seeks an Education Entrepreneur Fellow to continue the summer program – Indy Summer Learning Labs – and launch a systems-change effort.
Initiative Overview
In 2021, The United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI) and The Mind Trust (TMT) launched Indy Summer Learning Labs (ISLL), a summer learning initiative meant to support academic recovery related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative, funded with philanthropic resources and state grants, served nearly 3,000 K-8 students across 38 school and community sites in Marion County in 2021. Indy Summer Learning Labs continued in June and July 2022 and served 5,000 students at 39 Marion County sites. Funding from the Indiana Department of Education supported the second year of the program. The initiative focuses on Indianapolis’ highest need neighborhoods and will leverage partnerships between Indianapolis Public Schools, Decatur Township, a number of charter schools, and community organizations. The next phase of the work will take a programmatic and systemic approach to leveraging out-of-school time as an opportunity for education change.
The Mind Trust seeks an Education Entrepreneur Fellow to continue the summer program – Indy Summer Learning Labs – and launch a systems-change effort. The new initiative will collaborate with out-of-school time providers, provide expertise and support to out-of-school time organizations that want to infuse academic rigor into their programs, and reinforce high-quality practices with partners.
The mission of this expanded work is to ensure that all children in Indianapolis, especially children of color and students from low-income families, have access to high-quality, academically rigorous out-of-school learning experiences that help them meet their full potential. This Fellow will work collaboratively to plan, launch, and execute the Indy Summer Learning Labs program in 2023 with the goal of significantly accelerating learning for the highest need students in Indianapolis.
In year one, the Fellow will set the strategic direction for the expanded system-level opportunity and lead a sustainable operational model to fulfill the mission, which requires building partnerships across Marion County schools, community organizations, and critical ecosystem stakeholders.
Position Responsibilities
- Vision Setting, Planning, and Execution: The Fellow will build out and execute planning work streams for the future of the Indy Summer Learning Labs (2023 and beyond). The Fellow will oversee project management and work to delegate roles and responsibilities to ensure on track completion of work streams to execute the summer program. Project management will be critical for building out the expanded initiative.
- Strategy and Problem Solving: The initiative launch will require synthesizing multiple sources of both qualitative and quantitative data to understand the key opportunities, strengths, and barriers in the Marion County ecosystem. The Fellow will convert these themes into an actionable plan for the systemic work with an accurate scope, prioritization, timeline, budget, and tactics. Strategy execution will be ever-evolving with nimble problem solving required. The Fellow will deepen academic impact by developing opportunities for rigor to be infused within existing programs and uplifting high-quality practices driven by research.
- Partner Cultivation, Management, and Communication: Given that this is a community-wide, all-hands-on-deck initiative, the Fellow will cultivate relationships with a large number of community partners to play key roles in the effort. The Fellow will be the face of the program and will build relationships with sites and stakeholders. The Fellow will also be available for troubleshooting and problem solving, offering differentiated support to sites as needed for implementing Indy Summer Learning Labs. The system change work will require partner cultivation across stakeholders including schools, school districts, community organizations, colleges and universities, education nonprofits, funders, families, and elected officials.
- Hiring and Leadership: The Fellow will oversee and implement a process for recruiting and hiring more than 100 effective teachers for Indy Summer Learning Labs as well as staff for the initiative launch. The Fellow will support the creation of criteria and accountability frameworks to ensure staff members are able to complete the program with a high degree of effectiveness. The Fellow will set the direction of the organization which requires strong team leadership, delegation, and staff management.
- Convening and Capacity Building: The Fellow will plan, and execute high-quality capacity building to meet the identified needs of the ecosystem and to infuse academic rigor. Methods include, but are not limited to, convenings, communities of practice, training, coaching, and advising. By providing technical assistance to program leaders, the Fellow will collectively figure out how to incorporate best practices and embed high-quality experiences for a holistic education. By connecting stakeholders, our education landscape field will be more connected and less siloed. Execution of the responsibilities will be supported by The Mind Trust and Building Impact.
Qualifications
- Deep commitment to educational equity, community partnerships, and transformational change
- 5+ years of experience in education-related work
- 3+ years of project management or leadership experience in the education, nonprofit, or social entrepreneur sector
- Experience within the out-of-school time space is a plus
- Ability to operate with autonomy and function in a high-energy, dynamic environment
- Ability to operate with a strong sense of personal ownership, urgency, and accuracy in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment
- Willingness to do whatever it takes to ensure successful program execution, including everything from small administrative tasks to larger, strategic execution
- Record of outstanding results both as an individual contributor and as someone who works through other people and organizations
- Significant experience working collaboratively with a wide variety of partners and stakeholders from district leaders to parents to community organizations
- Excellent written and verbal communications skills
- A spirit of flexibility, an openness to feedback, and a commitment to continuous learning
- Critical thinking and good judgment in prioritizing problems to resolve and opportunities to pursue
