Director of Adult Development

SUMMARY

Our purpose at Citizens of the World Charter Schools (CWC) is to realize human potential by strengthening the bonds among us and developing true citizens of the world. In this work, we are guided by our core values of Excellence, Authenticity, Diversity, Community and Change, and our operating norms that reflect a commitment to personal and professional growth, including operating as learners, with curiosity, integrity and humility.

The mission of Citizens of the World Charter Schools is to impact and expand the conversation about what an excellent education contains, requires and accomplishes. Citizens of the World schools challenge students to realize their full potential and thrive in a diverse society. We are public schools open to all, committed to serving diverse communities throughout the U.S. with schools currently in Los Angeles, CA, Kansas City, MO and Cincinnati, OH. We develop sophisticated thinkers who master content and have a courageous and compassionate sense of responsibility for themselves and others. Our classrooms are challenging – and joyful – learning environments that engage children through fun projects tailored to their personal experiences, strengths and needs. Our teachers take the time to get to know each child as an individual. We empower children to think critically and learn to engage respectfully and productively with fellow students by developing their capacity to enter into and understand the lives of others. Our goal is for student “success” to include both mastery of content and an understanding of their emotions, so that students can meaningfully connect with each other, be part of any community, and courageously decide who they are in the world and how they want the world to be. 

Citizens of the World Charter Schools believes that the CWC Graduation Disposition Framework represents a set of habits and competencies that are critical for both students and adults to possess in order to thrive and meaningfully contribute in the future. Adult learning at CWC extends its comprehensive Graduate Disposition Framework to educators and leaders. 

The Director of Adult Development will be responsible for leading the CWCS Leader Institute program, coaching leaders, driving equitable adult learning experiences in CWCS spaces, and supporting regions in designing opportunities that provide equitable adult development across roles.

The Director will design, lead and maintain an innovative learning environment within the CWCS Leader Institute program and during all CWCS-led adult learning experiences. They will demonstrate a commitment to the leader competencies that the program is aiming to cultivate in its fellows and will leverage an equity lens when creating and supporting all adult development opportunities. 

This is a full-time position on the Citizens of the World Charter Schools network team and can be located in any of the CWC regions: Los Angeles, California, Kansas City, Missouri or Cincinnati, Ohio.

For more information on Citizens of the World Charter Schools, please visit www.citizensoftheworld.org. 

CANDIDATE PROFILE

Candidates will be responsible for the following:

CWCS Leader Institute 

Lead the design, recruitment, execution and evaluation of the CWCS Leader Institute. This includes the following responsibilities: 

• Hold and communicate a clear vision for the CWCS Leader Institute program, aligned to a multi-year plan.
• Communicate the Institute’s vision and goals in a way that ensures understanding and commitment from a racially, culturally, and socioeconomically diverse community of parents, students, faculty, staff, and board members.
• Develop and iterate on a cohesive and rigorous arc of learning that is aligned to the leader competencies within the CWCS Leader Institute program.
• Support the creation of Institute modules that could become stand-alone offerings within CWC and non-CWC schools.
• Oversee and manage the day-to-day implementation of the CWCS Leader Institute program.
• Plan and facilitate sessions within the CWCS Leader Institute program, creating conditions to ensure that fellows experience a strong sense of belonging in the space.
• Coach a number of designated fellows within the CWCS Leader Institute program.
• Monitor progress and development of fellows, aligned to the CWCS Leader Institute program’s leadership competencies and in partnership with any other CWCS Leader Institute coach.
• Create a multi year business plan for the sustainability of the CWCS Leader Institute program.
• Manage the operations of the CWCS Leader Institute program including budget development and legal agreements with internal and external partners, ensuring that daily financial and business activities are compliant with the organization’s fiscal policies.
• Coordinate with the CWCS accounting team with contracts, invoices and reimbursement needs.
• Hire and manage any consultants that may be required for the CWCS Leader Institute program and for any adult learning initiative.

Adult Learning and Development:

• Design and implement the vision for equitable adult learning within the CWCS team.
• Support regional or school-based teams to consider their vision, design and implementation of opportunities to create more equitable adult development, across a variety of roles.
• Facilitate equitable adult development sessions with regional or school-based teams, where appropriate.
• Develop adult development modules from the CWCS Leader Institute program that could be shared with non-CWC organizations.

Culture and Talent:

• Define and model a transformative and equitable culture consistent with CWC Schools purpose, mission, core values and operating norms within all adult learning spaces, including the CWCS Leader Institute program and the CWCS team.
• Build a culture of self-reflection, relentless self-improvement and adaptive leadership within all adult learning spaces.
• Recruit and select diverse, mission-aligned and competency-aligned fellows to participate in the CWCS Leader Institute program.
• Maintain a focus on mission-aligned decision making.
• Ensure on-going cycles of continuous learning and improvement within all initiatives.

Partnerships and Communication:

• Design clearly defined initiatives that support CWC regional and school adult development and establish explicit boundaries of their role within these.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with CWC regional and school teams.
• Establish partnerships with non-CWC organizations, including regional quarterbacks to recruit non-CWC fellows for the CWCS Leader Institute program.
• Create marketing collateral that can be used to recruit external fellows and promote the CWCS Leader Institute program or CWCS adult leadership modules more broadly in the education field.
• Oversee the implementation of varied forms of communication with a range of stakeholders, including regular updates about the adult development work within the CWCS network.
• Represent CWCS adult development including the CWCS Leader Institute program at networking and industry or learning events and conferences.

QUALIFICATIONS AND TRAITS

Candidates must have:

• Significant experience with coaching adults (particularly school leaders)
• Strong design and facilitation skills within adult learning spaces, with strong results
• Experience as a leader, with exceptional results, within educational settings
• Experience working in a mixed socio-economic school (SES) preferred
• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited, four-year university; Master’s degree or PhD in education preferred but not required

The Director of Adult Development must:

• Be aligned with the values and mission of the organization
• Center equity in all aspects of their work
• Have an entrepreneurial spirit and be capable of managing many complex tasks with competing priorities
• Possess strong leadership and strategic planning skills
• Possess strong coaching and facilitation skills
• Possess strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Have excellent adaptive leadership and problem-solving skills
• Model self awareness and maintain strong personal commitment to ongoing learning and growth
• Be dependable and have excellent follow-through
• Be an effective and persuasive communicator, orally and in writing

STAFFING AND REPORTING RELATIONSHIP

The Director of Adult Development shall formally report to the Executive Director of Learning and Innovation. They will work closely with other stakeholders, including CWCS network staff, staff and leaders in CWC Kansas City, CWC Cincinnati and CWC Los Angeles schools and external partners.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

CWC offers competitive salaries commensurate with experience and a comprehensive benefits package. The salary range for the Director of Adult Development role is $115,000-130,000 annually, commensurate with experience and expertise. 

CWCS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. As an organization that values diversity and aims to serve a diverse group of students, we work to reflect this diversity in our staff as well.

This search is being run by NRG Consulting Group.