Chief College Access Officer

About Breakthrough Central Texas

Breakthrough is the leading college access and success non profit in Central Texas. For more than 20 years, we have partnered with thousands of middle and high school students who aspire to be the first in their family to graduate with a degree or certificate. We make a radical, long-term commitment to students, to and through college, unlocking the power of education and a lifetime of opportunity. We support the whole student with personalized services, work closely with community partners, campuses, and employers, and advocate for our students with lawmakers. Breakthrough students attend 60+ public schools and persist at nearly 100 colleges and universities. The result is that nearly 60% of Breakthrough students graduate from college, compared to 15% of low-income students in our region. Our work has resulted in more than 350 college graduates, with nearly 3,500 on their way, positively impacting families for generations, our region’s educational access, and the Central Texas economy.

Why Work at Breakthrough Central Texas

By working for Breakthrough Central Texas, you will help hundreds of students achieve their dreams of success and receive the high-quality education they deserve. Breakthrough is an organization committed to its students and recognizes that our greatest resource to support them is our dedicated and talented staff. If you believe all young people deserve the opportunity to achieve postsecondary success and you desire to work at an organization committed to its employees and building the strongest team culture anywhere, then join us!

About the Chief College Access Officer Role

The Chief College Access Officer (CCAO) is the lead for all college access services offered to youth in Breakthrough’s programs at the 11th and 12th grade of high school and through the summer after graduation until enrolling in higher education. Central to this role, the CCAO is directly responsible for the execution of Breakthrough’s school-based, college-advising model called Breakthrough’s Schoolwide Postsecondary Advising Program, or Breakthrough’s Schoolwide Program for short. This organizational strategy, first launched in 2020 at a Title I high school, Manor New Tech HS, is now at a second campus called Eastside Early College HS. The program is collectively serving more than 600 students each year at the 11th and 12th grade level, and has several classes of HS graduates who are matriculating into college and persisting at significantly higher rates than similar peers. The Schoolwide Program creates impactful and sustainable results by blending direct advising service to students with capacity-building support for the high schools to integrate best practices of college access into the school structures. The CCAO supervises the Associate Directors of the two Schoolwide locations and oversees their teams of Advising and Program Coordinators as well as AmeriCorps Members.

In addition, the CCAO leads the organization’s efforts to train and equip all advisors serving 11th and 12th graders - in the Schoolwide program and in Breakthrough’s other longstanding program called the 12-Year Experience Program (12-Year). The CCAO works across teams to ensure advisors receive quality training and have the data systems, curriculum, and other advising tools to support students in completing critical postsecondary access steps, such as building a college list, submitting applications, and securing financial aid. In addition, the Chief College Access Officer oversees all ‘summer success’ services offered to HS graduates the summer after high school to prevent the well-documented ‘summer melt phenomenon’ and support students to successfully matriculate into the postsecondary education of their choice. The CCAO is a member of the Leadership Team and reports to the Executive Director. The CCAO collaborates most significantly with the Chief High School Programs Officer, who oversees all services for high schools students in the 12-Year Program, and the Chief College and Career Success Officer, who oversees the College and Career Success (CCS) team to provide services for high school graduates from both the Schoolwide and 12-Year Experience Programs in order to persist and graduate with a postsecondary degree or certificate. Specific responsibilities of the CCAO include:

Strategic Leadership of Breakthrough’s Schoolwide Postsecondary Advising Team

• Oversee the implementation of the Schoolwide model at two locations to support every student on the path to postsecondary success.
• Guide the development of the tools, frameworks, curriculum, and resources the team uses to implement advising services and programs at the Schoolwide locations.
• Build an evaluation and reporting process, alongside Breakthrough’s data and research team, on the impact of the Schoolwide program on student success.
• Oversee the integrity, accuracy, and usefulness of all Schoolwide data, including enrollment data, application data, financial aid information, transcripts, case notes, and student progress indicators.
• Lead the plan to determine the feasibility and pace of expansion of the Schoolwide program to a new school.
• Foster productive relationships, along with the Associate Directors of Schoolwide Advising, with school leaders at the Schoolwide locations, including principals, counselors, and other administrators.
• Liaise with district leadership such as superintendents, CCMR directors, or others who oversee our partnership and contract.

Talent Management and Staff Development

• Supervise, support, develop, and evaluate the Associate Directors of Schoolwide Advising at both Manor New Tech HS and Eastside Early College HS, and providing strong team leadership to all Schoolwide team members (staff and AmeriCorps members) so that they are positioned to deliver high quality programs and services.
• Lead recruitment, hiring, onboarding, and retention efforts for a diverse, high-performing Schoolwide team.
• Create performance management systems, professional development structures, and leadership pathways that strengthen staff skills and team performance.
• Foster a healthy, inclusive, high-trust culture within CCS and help shape positive organizational culture across Breakthrough.

Cross-Team Leadership of Breakthrough’s College Access Programs and Services

• Lead the tracking and evaluation of data for all college access activities, liaising with the Data and Research team and leaders on the 12-Year High School team, including information on test scores, college readiness indicators, applications, acceptances, financial aid, and other postsecondary readiness and success indicators.
• Create regular reports, along with other leaders in the Schoolwide and 12-Year HS programs, to monitor and evaluate progress of HS juniors and seniors on the steps required for application to and enrollment in college.
• Lead the design and implementation of all summer success initiatives to support HS graduates from the Schoolwide and 12-Year programs to matriculate successfully into postsecondary institutions.
• Coordinate closely with leaders on the 12-Year and CCS teams to ensure that students are successfully handed off to CCS advisors as they begin their postsecondary education.

Organization-Wide Leadership

• Serve as a key communicator and representative of Breakthrough’s work broadly, and the Schoolwide team’s efforts specifically, in a variety of settings from one-on-one meetings to large presentations at professional conferences.
• Foster a healthy culture for the Schoolwide team, and, alongside the rest of the Leadership Team, positively influencing culture across the entire organization.
• Serve as an active member of the organizational Leadership Team, supporting that team’s ability to implement Breakthrough’s strategic plan and deliver on organization-wide goals and initiatives, and
• Report to the Board of Trustees, along with the Executive Director and other Leadership Team members on the impact, success, and challenges of the Schoolwide program and Breakthrough's college access services.
• Liaise with Breakthrough's Development and Communications team members, as needed, to support fundraising, messaging, and organizational storytelling.

About You

You are a strong candidate for the Chief College Access Officer role if, above all, you are a champion for increasing social and economic opportunity through educational attainment. You are a servant leader, and feel at your best in deep relationship with the communities in which you serve and in collaboration with others you work and partner with. You love to design and build, while also willing and able to dig in with the team, to support students in their college access steps, and to work across teams to ensure success. You bring content expertise in education, youth development, college readiness and persistence, and building coalitions in school and nonprofit settings. You will also bring experience or demonstrated capacity to:

• Lead in a school, district, higher education institution, or college-access nonprofit, including knowledge of best practices in leadership and postsecondary access and success.
• Drive innovation and developing programs from idea, to impact, to scale, especially programs that include collaboration with schools.
• Develop partnerships by establishing clear protocols for collaboration, trusting relationships, and well-communicated outcomes of the partnership’s efforts.
• Develop and improve systems that support education-related program efficiency, effectiveness and performance management.
• Manage complexity by exhibiting sound judgement and thoughtful decision making in ambiguous situations, responding with flexibility, ability, and a bias toward action.
• Create and improve systems that support program efficiency, effectiveness, and performance management.
• Approach conversations and decisions with openness and humility, as well as an awareness of identity, power, and privilege.
• Create the conditions for high performance and talent retention by setting priorities, delegating effectively, managing conflicts, stewarding team culture, and coaching the team to ensure progress toward goals.
• Lead collaboratively with other teams and department heads to set vision, ensure strategic alignment, maintain operational efficiency, and create meaningful impact.
• Deliver strong college access advising, including course selection, meeting testing requirements, envisioning a career pathway, navigating college applications, and securing financial aid.
• Provide high quality support to ensure students prevent ‘summer melt’ by removing typical barriers to enrollment, including testing, financial aid, and housing, and supporting the student's holistic readiness.
• Communicate Breakthrough’s mission, student stories, and community strengths to diverse audiences through compelling and inclusive messaging strategies.
• Prioritize effectively to deliver on commitments in a timely manner.

Reporting and Supervising Relationships

The CCAO will report to the Executive Director and will be a member of the Breakthrough Leadership Team. Direct reports will include the Associate Directors of Schoolwide Advising and, indirectly, the CCAO will support the professional staff and AmeriCorps members on their teams. The CCAO will have influence on outcomes across all teams providing college-access services.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive salary between $105,000-$142,000 depending on experience and qualifications.
• Health, dental and vision insurance, Breakthrough pays 100% of employee premiums
• Life insurance
• Matching 401K retirement plan
• Thirty days of PTO annually, with immediate accrual, recognizing that staff have lives outside of work
• Additional leave benefits, including company holidays and FMLA eligibility (varies by year)

Breakthrough Central Texas provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive salary between $105,000-$142,000 depending on experience and qualifications.
• Health, dental and vision insurance, Breakthrough pays 100% of employee premiums
• Life insurance
• Matching 401K retirement plan
• Thirty days of PTO annually, with immediate accrual, recognizing that staff have lives outside of work
• Additional leave benefits, including company holidays and FMLA eligibility (varies by year)