Program Director/Coach: Texas Early Childhood Project (Part-Time)
The Texas Early Childhood Project Program Director/Coach role is an exciting opportunity to join a collaborative team of SEN principal coaches to implement a new program focused on developing the instructional and instructional leadership skills of early childhood practitioners in Texas public schools. In summer 2024, the Moody Foundation awarded SEN a three-year grant which will fund a partnership with three Texas school districts to codify their early childhood models in alignment with the science of early learning, and lead cycles of professional development and on-site coaching for educators to implement research-based instructional strategies. You can find a summary of the project here: Project Summary - Moody -M-Pact-Fund
You will love this role if you love:
- Little learners! This project entirely focuses on PK3 and PK4 students
- Leading and collaborating to design high quality adult learning
- The science of learning including how we help learners to manage cognitive load, connect the dots, and deepen meaning
- Countering preschool fadeout
- Coaching school leaders on instructional leadership “fundamentals” including observation & feedback and data-driven instruction
- Program design - this program is being newly developed and will require us to plan, iterate, continuously improve, and build the plane while flying it.
- Collaboration - this role will join a 4 person team that leverage our individual strengths to deliver great work
In this role, you will (see below for explanations of the two work streams):
- Lead Coaching and Development cycles for schools in at least one Texas district
- Own the Project Leadership work stream
This role is a part-time role expected to work approximately 20 hours per week or 2.5 days. Bi-weekly travel to a Texas district TBD will be required. If another district is added, travel will be required to that district as well. Other than that, SEN staff work virtually from our own homes.
The salary is $76,500 (one half of the starting salary for this role, $153,000). Benefits are not provided for employees under 30 hours per week. This position is guaranteed from March 2025 through May 2027. During the 26-27 school year we will actively work to identify other opportunities at SEN or to extend/expand this project ensuring a clear understanding of opportunities beyond May 2027 as early as possible.
There may be opportunities to expand the role up to 75% time by taking on additional coaching responsibilities in other SEN projects (and thus become eligible for benefits).
The start date is ideally on or around April 21st, 2025. This person must reside in Texas due to the amount of Texas travel and the need to be flexible as the project scope emerges.
Project Workstreams
Coaching and Professional Development
Responsibilities
- Facilitate monthly in-person professional development for early childhood practitioners (educators and instructional leaders) for up to 5 schools
- Conduct bi-weekly coaching calls with the instructional leadership team of each school focused on their ability to observe for and insist upon the look-fors from that PD
- Conduct monthly school co-observations with the instructional leadership team of each school to improve their ability to observe for and insist upon the look-fors from that PD
Skills/Knowledge
- Great PD facilitator - Must be able to use someone else’s session materials to deliver compelling, rigorous adult learning to a diverse group of learners
- Great coach - Must be able to coach both in person and virtually getting people on board, holding them accountable with compassion, and improving their skills
- Great eye for instruction - must have a high bar for instruction and a lot of knowledge about PK learners
- Content knowledge - experience with EC high-quality PreK curriculum and assessments i.e. Frog Street, Circle, and CLI assessments. Experience with and commitment to the science of early learning.
- High self-awareness regarding working styles and personal identity markers. Comfort in discussing lines of difference in personal identity with others, working across multiple lines of difference, and reflecting on and adjusting style.
Project Leadership
Responsibilities
- Maintain a robust project plan that ensures all team members can collaborate efficiently and all grant management deadlines are met. This will include significant backward planning from intended outcomes, herding district planning partners (eg. nailing down district calendars), and gracious accountability for teammates pulled in many directions.
- Own all grant reporting responsibilities for the Moody Foundation including building the systems needed once reporting guidelines are shared.
- Liaise with district leadership (and potentially school leadership) regarding operational work such as coordinating extra duty pay for teachers, developing service schedules, etc.
- Collaborate with the team on any additional fundraising opportunities we pursue for this work to create compelling application materials
- Facilitate project team meetings empowering team members to collaborate, share genius, continuously improve, and get things done
- Create a communications strategy for the distribution of project materials and the ECE playbook to LEAs statewide.
Skills/Knowledge Needed
- Great project management skills - must be very comfortable using a project plan and running the routines that keep it up to date and functional
- Can make clarity out of ambiguity - must be able to take something mushy like “we need to figure out how to distribute the playbook” and turn it into clear action steps, must be able to take something new like the grant reporting template and unpack it down to details
- See the trees and the forest - this is a brand new project, when we identify little steps and details, this person must be able to make larger connections eg. “that means next year we need to…” or “that means in our other districts…” or “other coaches will need to know…” and capture those connections so they don’t get lost
- Stakeholder management - must be able to build highly effective relationships with stakeholders including our funder, the districts (for whom this program is free), and our team (who are a bit of a herd of cats)
- Meeting facilitation - Must be able to decide what’s meaty for meetings, what’s an email, and run inclusive spaces where folks can collaborate
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Mindsets
- Deeply held belief that all children deserve and can receive an excellent equitable education and the passion to work toward that belief despite obstacles and setbacks
- A recognition of, and patience for, the ongoing development of innovative and flexible approaches within traditional schools, districts, and state agencies
- Well-balanced locus of control - takes significant accountability for results while also recognizing locus of control
Required Experience
- Must have experience as an elementary school principal or early childhood director with demonstrated results. Experience in Texas is also a plus.
- Must have experience mentoring, managing, or coaching other school leaders or early childhood directors either as an experienced school leader who was drawn on to develop other leaders on in a formal leadership role such as Head of Schools
School Empowerment Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, veteran status or any other basis covered by appropriate law.