Summer: Dean of Students 

Summer: Dean of Students

Boston & Cambridge

ORGANIZATIONAL OVERVIEW

About Us and Our Philosophy

• Breakthrough Greater Boston (BTGB) is a transformative college
• access and teacher

training program. BTGB offers six years of academic enrichment and college preparation to middle school and high school students with high potential but limited opportunities. 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.

Over the past eight years, 97% of our graduating students have matriculated to college, and 82% of them have persisted through their undergraduate years. On average, more than 70% of our graduating teachers have gone on to pursue careers in education. After two decades of success at our original Cambridge site, BTGB embarked upon a significant program expansion and opened a second site in Boston in the summer of 2013 and a third site in Somerville in 2018. As an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Breakthrough Greater Boston is part of The Breakthrough Collaborative, a national educational movement working to improve educational outcomes for youth across 25 U.S. cities.

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 top 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

Deans will play a critical role this summer in driving academic achievement for students and building a rigorous college preparatory environment through collaboration with the program leadership team. Deans have a deep understanding of high-leverage instructional strategies and will directly manage and coach teachers. They serve as a grade-level culture leader of the building and will ensure systems are carried out with fidelity. 

Primary Responsibilities: 

Program Culture 

• Collaborate with Director of Student Services to develop, implement, and monitor a program-wide culture plan that includes routines and expectations for students and staff in and outside of the classroom that are rooted in restorative justice practices 
• Provide leadership to all staff and students in establishing a positive, structured, and achievement-oriented environment 
• Track and monitor student behavior data to develop necessary programwide
• or grade-level support 
• Use culture and intervention data to plan and facilitate weekly professional development activities and support grade-level teams with problems of practice 
• Create inclusive environments that honor and support a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives  
• Model Breakthrough Greater Boston’s core values and set the standard for professional behavior 
• Supervise non-classroom times such as arrival, dismissal, lunch, and transitions, and manage bus safety, so that non-classroom spaces are positive, calm, and orderly. This means leading these spaces and times to uphold program
• wide systems and expectations.  For buses, it means setting and upholding expectations for appropriate behavior. 
• Assist in Breakthrough’s daily operations by employing effective and efficient student-centered practices 

Interventions 

• Help teachers develop and implement classroom-based, developmentally appropriate interventions for individual students and groups of students  
• Provide targeted programming to support positive identity development and peer relationships. This means working with the Counselor and the program’s leadership to facilitate social skills groups, mediation, and other age-appropriate groups and lessons to support students with navigating challenges of middle school 
• Plan agendas for and conduct regular Grade Level Team meetings 
• Assist the Student Support Process in collaboration with the Counselor and the Student Support Team (SST) to ensure students receive behavioral academic interventions 

Building Community 

• Communicate with students, parents, and families and appropriate program staff to share progress, as well as behavioral and academic concerns 
• Create a healthy, high-achieving environment where staff feel challenged, supported, and valued 
• Engage families in understanding grade level expectations, setting student goals, and providing specific support to their student/s. 

YOUR BACKGROUND AND QUALIFICATIONS

• At least two years of teaching experience (three or more years preferred)
• Teaching degree or certification strongly preferred
• Commitment to and passion for educational equity
• Understanding of the social, emotional, and cognitive developmental level of middle school students
• Ability to work with students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds
• Ability to deliver positive, constructive and honest feedback
• Outstanding presentation, writing, and organizational skills… and energy!

LOGISTICS

This role takes place at one of our three sites in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville. Programming does not take place at our central office in Kendall Square.

Locations: 

• Boston: New Mission High School (655 Metropolitan Ave. Hyde Park, Boston)
• Cambridge: Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (459 Broadway, Cambridge) 

Summer Program Hours: 

• Student Hours: Monday through Friday 8:15am3
• :00pm 
• Faculty Meeting and Professional Development Hours:
• Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 3:00pm4:30pm
• ; Wednesdays 1:00pm4:30pm 

Dean Working Hours: 

• 25 to 35 hours per week from July 6th-August 11th 
• Exact hours will be mutually decided upon by the Summer Counselor and Senior Director of Student Services.
• Example Schedule: Mon, Tues, Thu, Fri: 8:30am
• 2:30pm; Wed: 10:00am
• 4:30pm
• 10 to 20 hours outside of these dates 
• June: 
• Role Orientation: TBD
• Teaching Fellow Orientation: One day from 9:00am4
• :30pm between 6/22 and 7/2
• July/August: 
• Family Night (5:00pm8
• :00pm Date TBD) 
• Celebration: AugustTBD

COMPENSATION

The Dean is a paid part-time, seasonal position. The hourly rate is $40/hour. Candidates with two years less experience will receive a rate of $35/hour.

HOW TO JOIN OUR TEAM

Apply by sending your resume to jobs@btgbmail.org. For more information, reach out to Edmund Standford Senior Director of Middle School, at estandford@btgbmail.org

Candidates for employment and employees are considered without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, citizenship, military status, gender identity, genetic disposition or carrier status, marital status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law.

Thank you for your interest in Breakthrough Greater Boston!