Assistant Commissioner; Chief Academic Officer

Reference Number
: DOE-011-26
Title
:
Assistant Commissioner (Chief Academic Officer)
Range/Title Code
: M98/99985
Salary
: $
Position Number: TBD
Issue Date
:
June 18, 2026
Closing Date
:
July 2, 2026
Core Hours of Operation:7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Location
:
Trenton, New Jersey
Division
:
Division of Teaching and Learning Services, Office of the Assistant Commissioner

The Chief Academic Officer (CAO) serves as the State Education Department’s senior executive responsible for defining, advancing, and delivering the Department’s academic vision, ensuring all students are safe, supported, and successful and achieve academic excellence across New Jersey. The CAO is responsible for the strategic design and statewide implementation of academic standards, high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) adoption, professional learning systems, and district and student support.

The CAO serves as a key advisor to the Commissioner on all matters of instructional policy and practice.

This is a broad, high-impact executive role requiring deep expertise in curriculum and instruction, special education, and large-scale program management. This role also requires relational skills to build trust with a diverse landscape of district leaders, practitioners, community stakeholders, and state and federal partners. The CAO leads a multi-disciplinary division of curriculum specialists, professional learning designers, and student support staff, and is expected to model the instructional vision they champion across the state.

Set and continuously refine the Department’s academic vision and instructional strategy

• Own a clear, statewide academic vision that defines what high-quality teaching and learning look like across all content areas and grade levels.
• Translate that vision into a coherent instructional strategy spanning curriculum, assessment, student supports, and educator development.
• Ensure alignment across priority initiatives (e.g., literacy, tutoring, early childhood, career pathways) so districts experience a unified academic framework.
• Continuously refine strategy based on research, field engagement, and evidence of implementation and impact.

Ensure instructional coherence through standards, curriculum, and high-quality materials

• Oversee the development and implementation of academic standards aligned to current research and equity-centered practice.
• Lead the statewide system for high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), including review, and adoption support.
• Design and drive implementation models that connect curriculum, assessment, and professional learning into coherent instructional systems.
• Ensure consistency across content areas so schools are not navigating fragmented or competing instructional priorities.
• Translate national research on instructional quality into actionable state policy, guidance, and tools.

• Define and lead a statewide approach to integrated student supports that ensures all students can access grade-level content and succeed.
• Oversee alignment of academic interventions (e.g., tutoring, MTSS) with core instruction to create cohesive systems at the school level.
• Ensure strong integration of supports for students with disabilities, multilingual learners, and other special populations into the academic strategy—not as separate systems.
• Coordinate across divisions to align academic, mental health, and school climate supports around student needs.
• Drive clarity on how districts implement supports so that policy translates into effective, consistent practice in schools.

• Oversee a coherent strategy for the educator pipeline spanning preparation, certification, induction, professional learning, and career development.
• Design and implement statewide professional learning systems that are job-embedded, evidence-based, and aligned to instructional priorities.
• Establish rigorous standards for selecting and evaluating professional learning providers…