Managing Director of Humanities, K-8

Achievement First (AF) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that currently supports 41 public charter schools in New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Consistently rated as one of the top charter school networks in the country for almost 25 years, AF is committed to continuous improvement, programmatic evolution for enhanced student outcomes, and sustainable growth. The majority of AF students are Black and Latinx children from low-income families who will be the first in their families to graduate from college.

AF currently employs more than 2,200 staff — 64% of whom identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color — who collectively educate nearly 15,000 students in Brooklyn and Queens, NY;
New Haven, Bridgeport, and Hartford, CT; and Providence, RI.

The mission of Achievement First is to deliver on the promise of equal educational opportunity for all of America’s children. AF knows that every child—regardless of race, zip code, or economic status—deserves access to great schools. At AF, students realize their potential and develop the skills they need to graduate from high school, succeed in college, thrive in a competitive world, and serve as the next generation of leaders in their communities.

At AF, students and staff embark on a shared journey to fulfill their incredible potential.

We are looking for a Managing Director of Humanities, K-8 to join our Teaching and Learning team.

Reporting to the Associate Chief Academics, the Managing Director of Teaching and Learning will work directly with network instructional teams and school leaders to craft, refine and execute the vision behind exemplary instructional programs across K-8 Humanities. The Managing Director will manage a team of senior content and grade-level experts to drive the strategy in their respective content areas and grade bands to implement this vision across our schools.

Your responsibilities will be:

• Craft a clear vision for K-8 humanities instruction and leadership (inclusive of curricula, assessments, training and school supports for both teachers and leaders) across the network through effective collaboration with regional superintendents, school leaders and other network teams.
• Program Alignment:
  Ensure alignment to network vision for instruction K-12, appropriate grade level differentiation within K-8 Humanities Vision, and attempt to create vertical and horizontal cohesion across academies (ES and MS) and contents wherever possible. Strategic and effective partnership with leaders at network and schools is essential for this work.
• Communication & Execution of Vision:
  Communicate and invest school and network stakeholders in reading assessment strategy, curricular decisions, professional development approaches, and school support strategy.

• Manage a team of 2 Senior Directors (K-8 ELA and K-8 History), who each manage a team of directors, to meet their goals and develop their teams
• Cultivate a strong team culture through effective and consistent team meeting and communication structures across K-8 Humanities, ensuring consistent and high leverage development for all team members.
• Manage Senior Director team on all work streams required to support vision including (but not limited to):
• Team Capacity Planning: create strategic resource allocation plans, determining priority work and supporting hiring of contractors or other supports as needed, developing quarterly and annual team plans
• Assessment Strategy: set assessment strategy, analyze data of state/national exams, interim assessments, ongoing quizzes and unit tests, and manage network response to data
• Resource Development: create and manage creation of strategic resources for schools to use in implementing curricula and assessments
• Training and School Support: implement school support plans with fidelity aligned to team Teaching and Learning’s vision for coaching and response to data; and to cultivate future content area leaders through lateral coaching.

• In 2022, AF…