Use your leadership experience in public charter schools, problem-solving skills, and executive advising capability to ensure Texas charter schools grow with quality and deliver on their promises to students from all backgrounds!
We are seeking an Academic and Program Strategy Specialist who will provide deep instructional knowledge, educational leadership, principles of strong school design, project management experience, strategic acumen, and coaching capacity. The work will include (a) guiding charter school applicants in designing and developing high-quality school models and charter applications, as well as (b) supporting executive teams in existing high-performing charter school organizations to build compelling, actionable strategic growth plans that accelerate growth and exceptional outcomes for all student groups.
This is a one-year full-time position (ideal start date: February 2024), aligned to the Charter School Incubator (CSI) initiative, led by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). We are also excited to explore the opportunity for continued partnership beyond this initiative and/or a permanent full-time role on the APS team, needs permitting. Though our work is national in scope, and our flexible working style allows our professionals to work where they have built their lives, Texas residence is strongly preferred. This position will be expected to travel as needed, based on team, client, and candidate needs.
About Bellwether and Strategic Advising
Bellwether is a national nonprofit that exists to transform education to ensure systemically marginalized young people achieve outcomes that lead to fulfilling lives and flourishing communities. Founded in 2010, we work hand in hand with education leaders and organizations to accelerate their impact, inform and influence policy and program design, and share what we learn along the way. For more, visit bellwether.org.
Our Strategic Advising team is deeply experienced in supporting education organizations — districts, states, charters, nonprofits, and foundations — to develop ambitious but achievable plans to increase their impact on underserved students. We develop highly actionable plans that leadership teams own and run with.
Our Academic and Program Strategy (APS) team, a subset of the broader Strategic Advising practice, is deeply experienced in supporting schools and network leaders — district, charter, and independent, pre-K through 12 — to develop actionable plans to close the gap between current student performance and actual potential.
About the Charter Incubation Initiative
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) Charter School Incubator (CSI) is a multiyear project that Bellwether is leading in partnership with TEA. The goal of the CSI is to grow the capacity of school leaders — and districts and networks — to deepen their impact through exceptional programming and operations and to extend their impact through strategic design, expansion, and/or replication as an in-district (Subchapter C) or open enrollment (Subchapter D) charter organization. The leaders’ work creates schools that will close learning gaps for students, expand choice options for families, and open new career opportunities for strong educators.
Through the program, school leaders:
- Design their mission and vision, and their academic, school culture, and operational models
- Develop multi-year strategic plans that enable high-quality school outcomes through design, expansion, and replication — and, in doing so, prepare for a quality application to make this plan a reality
- Join an enduring learning community of participants across the state who collaborate and learn from one another
- Access best practices and examples from comparable high-performing district and charter schools and emerging networks across the country
- Access tools, templates, and frameworks to enhance data collection and decision-making
- Strengthen adaptive leadership skills
Responsibilities
The Academic and Program Strategy Specialist (APSS) will join the team for their third cycle of the Texas Charter School Incubator. The APSS’ responsibility will be to bring leadership experience in a charter school or network, a nuanced understanding of relevant issues in Texas education, a keen strategic lens, and a team-oriented spirit.
In this position, your responsibilities will be as follows:
- (65%) For the experienced leaders cohort, lead and support the Bellwether team and external contractors who deliver the CSI programming to:
- Internalize the new charter school application requirements
- Coach leaders to build impactful and cohesive school designs
- Build adaptive skills within leaders
- Support leaders through feedback and project management to submit strong applications that meet community demand for new school models
- Guide and advise leaders in thoughtful stakeholder engagement
- (35%) For the replicate and expand cohort, support existing charter school leaders in Texas to deepen their impact and grow their capacity by:
- Coaching them to address the highest opportunities within their academic programs
- Ensuring they have a plan to address the needs of all students as they expand
- Supporting them to think through the academic, program, talent, and network model in order to replicate effectively
- Collaborating with the rest of the Bellwether team to provide cohesive recommendations to clients and a high-quality cohort experience
Qualifications
This partnership role with Bellwether is a good fit for professionals who possess strong personal drive and motivation, and who are resourceful, responsible, tenacious, strategic, and self-confident. Excited? We are too. You should apply if you have:
- A clear passion and commitment to improving schools serving underserved students.
- Experience with the Texas charter landscape and open enrollment charter application process specifically.
- A strong record of student achievement in the following: at least seven years’ professional experience in a school or network/district-based setting, including at least two of teaching and three of school leadership experience. School network/district-level experience in Texas and coaching school leaders is strongly preferred.
- A clear vision of rigorous, high-impact instruction and assessment, as well as related academic program and leadership practices necessary to drive meaningful school improvement and/or network/district growth.
- Experience managing program implementation through teachers and school-based leaders.
- Experience planning and facilitating professional learning sessions for school and/or school network-based leaders.
- Experience leveraging project management tools and processes, research, and analytical problem-solving skills to drive extraordinary outcomes.
- A well-rounded interpersonal skill set with the capacity to build strong senior client relationships, work effectively in a team environment, persuade leaders, and lead iterative processes that enable joint problem-solving and inclusive decision-making with clients and teams.
- Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to tailor communications to the needs of various stakeholders.
- A track record as a proven coach and people developer.
- An ability to model a high degree of reflection and self-awareness, build trusted relationships across lines of difference and positional power, and seek out and respond to perspectives different from your own.
- A learning mindset and the ability to seek out and synthesize new information.
- A commitment to Bellwether’s core values, including diversity, equity, and inclusion and a variety of viewpoints.
This position runs the duration of the next CSI initiative, January to December 2024. At that time, we would be eager to consider a continued partnership throughout the fourth cohort of “Replicate and Expand,” or a permanent full-time role on the APS team, needs permitting.
Compensation
The base salary range for this role for incoming team members is $160,000 to $175,000, with a bonus potential of $15,960 annually. While the final offer amount will be determined by multiple factors — including previous experience and content knowledge — and may vary from the listed range, Bellwether is committed to transparency, and all offers align with our compensation philosophy.
Bellwether provides competitive compensation and an attractive benefits package that includes a performance bonus based on individual and firm success, health care coverage, and a 401(k) plan with an employer matching contribution policy.
To Apply
Applications or inquiries about the position should be directed to Chantavia Moore, Chief of Staff, via an online application. Use your application — a custom letter of interest, a current résumé, and three professional references — to show us how you’ve got the skills we’ve listed or why the skills you have are the ones we actually need. This role has a priority application deadline of January 12. While we prioritize applications received on or before that date, we will review applications as we receive them until the position is filled. Note:Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the United States. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.
Bellwether is committed to building a team that reflects the varied backgrounds and experiences of the students we seek to serve. It is important to us that you use your application materials to clearly surface ways in which your background and experiences align with Bellwether’s core values, including our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and viewpoint diversity.
Bellwether is committed to providing equal opportunities. It is our policy to ensure that all individuals with whom we are in contact are not discriminated against on the basis of age, race, ethnicity, color, disability, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, political ideology, or veteran’s status. Further, as described above, Bellwether is committed to building a diverse team and strongly encourages individuals from all backgrounds to apply.