Senior Director of Middle School

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

About Us and Our Philosophy

Breakthrough Greater Boston (BTGB) is a transformative college access and teacher training program. BTGB offers ten+ years of academic enrichment, college preparation to middle school and high school students with high potential but limited opportunities, and college persistence and success supports to our students. Simultaneously, BTGB recruits, trains, and inspires a diverse cohort of high achieving college students to become the next generation of urban teachers. Leveraging a Students Teaching Students model, BTGB provides engaging, tuition-free academic programming during the summer and after school. Our students gain the skills and motivation to succeed in rigorous high school courses and, ultimately, in college. Meanwhile, our teachers gain hands-on experience, research-based training and coaching from professional educators.

With a deep commitment to our mission, BTGB operates with the highest standards of integrity and best practices, while also enjoying the ability to be innovative and flexible to meet the evolving needs of our students, families, and teachers. Our team is diverse, high-performing and dedicated. We continue to build an organizational culture that emphasizes our core values for every member of our community:

• Spirit: We cherish and embody the youthful energy and spirit of our students and teachers
• Continual Learning: Everyone in our community has something to learn and something to teach
• Team Together: We all chip in to accomplish whatever is needed for our teammates and the broader organization
• Student Centered: Our students are our first priority and our decisions center around what benefits our students
• Equity and Opportunity: We value diversity of identity, background and thought. We treat everyone with dignity and respect
• Excellence in Everything: We maintain high expectations for ourselves

Breakthrough Greater Boston encourages individuals of all backgrounds to apply for this position, and we do not discriminate on any basis prohibited by applicable law. We celebrate the diversity of our world and our community, and we seek to build a team that reflects that diversity in every way. We welcome and encourage all qualified applicants who share that same vision, as we wish to engage all those who can contribute to our work and this mission.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Breakthrough Greater Boston is currently seeking a highly motivated and talented Senior Director Middle School (SDMS) to oversee its work supporting all programming for grades 7-8 and rising 9th grade, as well as co-leading BTGB’s teacher training program. The Senior Director role is a new role for the organization, responsible for managing functions and a team.

The SDMS will be responsible for programmatic planning, management and evaluation and will foster a culture of programmatic excellence. Leadership of this function includes oversight of recruitment and admissions, social emotional learning and mental health support, and family engagement for our middle school students. This role is also responsible for the management of curriculum and instruction for our middle school program and teacher training program. The SDMS hires, trains, and supervises a full-time team as well as oversees seasonal hiring and volunteers for the department. The SDMS will nurture strong relationships with school partners as well as other partners that advance student services at BTGB. The Senior Director of Middle School reports directly to Breakthrough Greater Boston’s Co-Executive Director.

POSITION OUTCOMES

A successful Senior Director of Middle School will:

• Thoughtfully develop a closely aligned, highly motivated, and outcomes-driven team that delivers on BTGB’s mission and promise to students and families
• Lead within the department in areas that include but are not limited to short- and long-term departmental planning, partnership development, special initiatives, staff support and coverage, data/reporting.
• Manage recruitment and admissions efforts across Breakthrough’s partner schools to enroll a cohort of 30 students for Boston’s campus and at least 50 students in Cambridge
• Oversee family engagement initiatives including maintaining frequent positive communication and facilitating fall and spring family check-ins for all 7th and 8th grade families
• Ensure that the Middle School team maintains accurate, up-to-date student records, particularly pertaining to support services and/or academic interventions
• Oversee the execution of safe, engaging, high-impact year-round teacher training program focused on instruction for 7th – 9th grade students
• Work to ensure that BTGB’s teacher training and student program efforts are informed by the latest research, reflective of cultural humility and a commitment to equity
• Nurture robust and mutually beneficial relationships with school and district partners across our campuses
• Represent Breakthrough’s programming and serve as a thought leader in various external settings including with the Board of Directors, donors, and partners

YOUR CONTRIBUTION

In this exciting role you will be responsible for a variety of critical leadership responsibilities including:

Departmental Leadership

• Share Breakthrough’s data and outcomes both internally (Board, Co Executive Directors, Development team) and externally (school partners, Breakthrough Collaborative, education field)
• Partner with the Leadership Team in the development of strong programmatic policies, and systems for effective program delivery as well as to plan for program growth, innovation, and improvement.
• Work with Co ED to manage monthly departmental expenditures against budget
• Maintain up-to-date field knowledge within Curriculum and Instruction, SEL, and Youth Development
• Work with the Co-Executive Directors to ensure student family representation on the Board of Directors

Team Supervision

• Hire program staff on the Middle School team, including permanent full-time employees, as well as overseeing the hiring of part-time and seasonal staff and regular programmatic volunteers
• Ensure team members receive high quality onboarding and training to set them up for long-term success in their roles, as well as oversee onboarding and training of part-time and seasonal staff and regular programmatic volunteers
• Conduct regular team meetings, weekly supervision, professional development planning, and regular performance evaluations for your team, providing them with consistent support and opportunities for professional growth
• Observe your team and Middle School related programming across sites on a consistent basis
• Create coverage plans and cover open areas of work during staff transitions within department
• Build vision and collaboration among department team members across campuses

Program Leadership

• Ensure BTGB’s positive relationships with its students, families, teachers and summer PT staff through direct relationship building and advisement to your team
• Work in collaboration with the rest of BTGB’s full-time program team to:
  • Plan and implement summer and school-year programs
  • Oversee the day-to-day operations of year-round academic programming at your campus
  • Train and provide ongoing support to teaching fellows
  • Ensure accurate and effective data collection (including student academic records) to inform programmatic decision making and student success
• Oversee support for students’ social emotional health and well-being, including supervising BTGB’s school year and summer counselors
• Manage Student Advising Program to ensure that all students are connected to a BTGB advisor and receiving consistent advocacy touchpoints
• Ensure students are provided with connections to supplemental and enrichment opportunities and maintain important organizational partnerships

Student Recruitment and Admissions

• Develop and maintain student recruitment pipeline relationships with teachers, administrators, and parent liaisons at partner schools as well as representatives from other youth-serving organizations
• Plan and conduct a comprehensive student recruitment effort, including recruitment presentations and workshops in all sixth-grade classrooms at partner schools
• Oversee student admissions, selecting the most qualified students from a pool of applicants from 6th grade classes across our partner schools

Partnership Management

• Build awareness of BTGB’s mission and clearly articulate program impact to stakeholders
  • In collaboration with program team members, maintain frequent, positive and productive communication with school staff members, representatives from local community-based organizations, and target colleges to collaboratively ensure our students’ success
• Ensure school and district communications are tracked in Salesforce
• Represent BTGB at key events for your department

YOUR BACKGROUND AND QUALIFICATIONS

As the incoming Senior Director, you will possess many, though perhaps not all, of the following characteristics and qualifications:

• Three or more years of experience supervising staff while leading educational programs, ideally serving low-income students, students who will be first generation college and/or training teachers
• Five to seven years of experience within the curriculum and instruction and/or student services area
• Experience with social emotional learning, curriculum development work, and/or student recruitment
• Experience using data to drive program development decisions
• Experience developing and leading professional development, particularly for teachers and instructional coaches
• Experience managing and fostering positive relationships with schools and school districts
• An unwavering commitment to anti racism, in deepening your personal understanding and in advancing our collective work
• In depth understanding of Self Responsibility in Leadership roles
• Ability to take initiative and work on multiple projects, adjust quickly to shifting priorities, meet deadlines, exercise good judgment and handle high-pressure situations
• Ability to hold others to high standards while also offering support and maintaining positive relationships
• Superior organization and project management skills
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with the ability to interact effectively with a variety of audiences
• Team player who demonstrates a positive attitude, sense of humor, energy, entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to collaboration
• Flexibility that allows for periodic work on Saturdays and evenings
• Experience teaching in a classroom setting preferred
• Prior experience with Breakthrough model a plus; familiarity with partner schools or districts highly desirable
• Candidates of color and those from low-income backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply as are those with fluency in Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Amharic, Somali, Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Tigrinya or Urdu
• Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree preferred

COMPENSATION

Breakthrough Greater Boston offers a competitive compensation package and is deeply committed to pay equity and transparency. The salary range for this position is $103,000-126,000; Breakthrough Greater Boston makes an offer based on relevant years of experience and does not negotiate salaries.

HOW TO JOIN OUR TEAM

If you are interested in learning more about how your passion and experience can help Breakthrough meet its mission and grow its impact, please submit your resume and a thoughtful and targeted cover letter outlining how your skills and experience meet the qualifications of the position and stating how you heard about this opportunity. Applications can be submitted to Oneda Horne, Co-Executive Director, at jobs@btgbmail.org.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Learn more about Breakthrough Greater Boston at www.breakthroughgreaterboston.org.