Chief Program Officer

Chief Program Officer

The position of Chief Program Officer offers a unique opportunity to join an organization that is deeply rooted in decades of history, while actively reflecting on transition,  and  moving  thoughtfully  toward transformation.    Reporting to the President & CEO, the  Chief  Program  Officer  will have  oversight responsibilities for all existing direct student and teacher services with a focus on cohesion and alignment amongst  all  programs.   Additionally, the  Chief  Program  Officer  will be  a  key  member  of a program capacity-building team that will develop, incubate, guide and scale emerging programs while leveraging each member’s creativity and expertise to envision new ways to support students, teachers, and families in reaching the organization’s vision to unite its community to prepare each and every student for life.

The  Chief  Program  Officer  will serve  as  a  primary  member  of the Foundation’s senior  leadership  team consisting of high-level professionals and will work collaboratively with Sarasota County Schools district leadership, personnel, and other youth serving organizations and partners to support a shared vision to see each and every student graduate with a college, career and life plan that leads to success.  The Chief Program  Officer  will  work  closely  with  the  President &CEO  and  other  senior  leaders  with  a  strategic mindset  to  ensure  strong  design,  integration,  delivery  and  on-gong evaluation of the Foundation’s programs.

Backdrop

The Challenges

Students   without   strong   family   support   can   slip   through   the   cracks.   The   results,   especially   to underrepresented and underserved students, can be devastating. Achievements gaps, exacerbated by the pandemic, persist, and too many students graduate with no clear pathway after high school, leading to lost earning power and increased instability.

• Today in Sarasota County, while we boast of a 92%high school graduation rate, 45% of high school students have no plan after graduation.
• Today, only 42.5%of Sarasota County residents between the  ages of 25 –64 hold an associate degree or higher. Compared to 42.2%for Florida and 43.8%for the United States. An estimated 10.5%of Florida residents have a workforce relevant credential.

Many students find daunting the process of applying to the right college or specialized-training program—and figuring out  how  to pay for it. Yet today in Sarasota County high schools, the counselor-to-student ratio is too high:

• Sarasota County high schools:  1:387. 
• Nationwide high schools: 1:311.
• Ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association: 1:250.

The Opportunities

The Education Foundation of Sarasota County has the unique opportunity to provide extra support and access to Sarasota County public school students, teachers, and families, especially those underserved. We can convene partners, assemble  a  network  of  solutions,  and  test  innovative  approaches  that  can accelerate  student  outcomes.  We can bring together private and  public  partnerships  buoyed  by philanthropy to serve as the catalyst for change. The Education Foundation is positioned to do what no other organization in Sarasota can do—make direct support and community resources accessible to the students that need it most in a student-centered and comprehensive way.

More  than  ever,  students  need  the  self-knowledge,  skills,  resilience  and sense  of  agency to adapt  and thrive in our fast-changing world.  Through its’ blended portfolio of direct and indirect support services, the Foundation is poised to lead in this effort.

Over the next 5-10 years, the Foundation needs to invest to expand and deepen its comprehensive life readiness program.  This will require:

• Increasing program spending ~3-4 X by 2030 (actual estimate TBD) to expand access and deepen impact.
• Adding staff in key functions—program development and delivery, technology and philanthropy.
• Invest funding for program innovation, prototyping and impact assessment.
• Capital investments to support media production, convening and collaboration space, and resource centers for students, families and teachers, as well as offices for Foundation staff.
• A significant increase in philanthropic support and stewardship to grow a large pool of sustaining donors.

Current and Emerging Direct service programs

Student Success-direct student support services fall under the umbrella of the College, Career, and Life Readiness(CCLR)Initiative that consists of:

1. Student Success Centers-Three  Student  Success  Centers, operated  and  managed  by  the Foundation, are  located  in area  high  schools,  and  one  center  is located  in  a  centralized community  location. A fourth  school-based  site  is  slated  to  open  in  2021-2022. Staff from these centers report to the Chief Program Officer.
2. Naviance-Five high schools utilize the web-based college, career, and life readiness platform of Naviance.   The Chief Program  Officer  will  be  responsible  for  improving  utilization  and successful integration of Naviance in all schools working in partnership with the school district and school-based leaderships.
3. Mentoring-the Foundation has operated a pilot mentoring program since 2019. It currently supports  35 students  who have  individual mentors,  along  with a  list  of  volunteers  who  are waiting to be assigned a student. The mentoring program provides more personalized support to  students  who  wish  to  participate. They  can  apply during  their  junior/senior year of  high school  and a mentor is  paired  with  them through  their  postsecondary  completion.  A mentoring team supports the daily work of the program and the team will report the Chief Program Officer.
4. Well-being-The Foundation aims for each and every student to develop self-awareness, social skills and decision-making skills to achieve  their full potential. We promote  a continuum of knowledge,  skills,  attitudes,  and  values —representing  physical,  mental,  social-emotional, and cognitive domains of learning —as foundational for children’s ability to contribute to the prosperity of their communities in an increasingly global society. The Foundation has made its most significant investment in social-emotional learning following the CASEL framework. The  Foundation  also piloted  a  program  with  two  other  partner  organizations  to  provide mental  health  counseling  and  support. This  is  an  emerging  area  of  interest  where  the Foundation is exploring wayfinding resources to support the development of the whole child with a specific focus on helping students gain a greater sense of agency. The Chief Program Officer would work with the capacity-building team for furtherance.
5. Life Readiness-the Foundation offers practical life workshops and piloted a financial readiness  workshop in 2020-2021. This 7-module workshop is poised for expansion to high school  students  across  the  community.  The  Foundation  is  also  exploring developing youth leadership through a peer-to-peer system of support. The aim would be to establish a college & career-going culture for each and every student through the power of peer influencers.
6. PLANit Sarasota-the Foundation serves as the backbone organization for a collective impact model  that  is  focused  on  increasing  the  percentage  of  working-age  Sarasotans  who  hold  a high-quality credential, degree or certificate to 60% by 2030.  The Chief Program Officer would be a contributing member of this collective which is led by another senior team member.

Teacher Support–the Foundation believes passionate, inspired, caring educators profoundly change the lives of their students. We seek to amplify the value of teachers through direct support consisting of:

1.  EducateSRQ  classroom  grants-the  Foundation  provides  over  $200,000  in  direct  grants  to teachers  each  year. The grants program is managed  by  a  Foundation  team  member  who  will report  to  the  Chief  Program  Officer  to  ensure effective programmatic  quality, integration, assessment and evaluation.
2. School-wide Immersive grants-the Foundation works in partnership with two USF science professors to deploy weeklong experiential learning opportunities that are aligned with learning standards.  Schools are identified each year and the Chief Program Officer will liaise between the school-based leadership team, district leadership, USF and the Foundation to ensure strong programmatic outcomes.
3. Teacher Leadership Center-this is an emerging program at the Foundation and is part of the 3-year strategic plan. Two pilot workshops were held during 2020-2021 to provide professional learning with teachers. A teacher advisory council (TAC) is slated to be created during 2021-2022 and the Chief Program Officer will work with the TAC to further develop and refine this program.

Education Foundation of Sarasota County Creed:

• We believe education changes lives.
• We believe every child deserves to reach his/her full potential.
• We believe in creating brighter futures for our children.
• We believe in leading in education innovations by taking calculated risks.
• We believe an investment in a child’s education is the best investment anyone can make.

Education Foundation of Sarasota County Guiding Values:

• We act on the belief that all children can learn and succeed.
• We fulfill all professional duties with honesty and integrity.
• We accept responsibility and accountability for our actions and behaviors.
• We commit to serving others before self.
• We enable access to quality education, taking into account not just academic attainment but also the development of the whole student.
• We make the education and well-being of students the fundamental value of all decision making.
• We seek  to  improve  the  effectiveness  of  the  education  profession  by  investing  in  professional development.
• We model the ethical behaviors we expect from others.
• We uphold a culture of philanthropy through donor-centered relationships.
• We build strong partnerships through authentic collaboration.

Any new team member who chooses to join the Foundation must demonstrate the following:

• Flexibility
• Adaptability
• Creativity
• Demonstrated work ethic
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Willingness to work independently and as part of a team
• High level of trust
• Technologically adept
• Impeccable customer service
• Good attitude and consummate professionalism
• Believe and support in a donor-centered philanthropic culture
• High emotional intelligence and cultural proficiency
• A high degree of self-motivation, ingenuity and creativity
• Open minded and collaborative
• Enjoy working in a fast-paced, dynamic and quickly changing environment
• Highly organized with attention to detail
• Excellent at follow-through
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Solid judgment and leadership skills, basic business intuition and common sense
• Persuasive, polished communicator with excellent interpersonal skills
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint)
• Willingness to be mentored and/or mentor others
• An excitement about moving a vision to reality for students.
• A team builder

Chief Program Officer Responsibilities:

• In collaboration with the CEO, provide strategic planning, design and implementation of all direct service programs in alignment with the Foundation’s 3-year strategic plan.
• Work in collaboration with the program capacity  building  team  and  staff to  fulfill  the  3-year strategic plan with active engagement and support of other senior team member responsibilities.
• Provide management and supervision to the student support staff, including but not limited to, high school college career advisors, college career coordinators, classroom grants manager and mentoring manager to create strong cohesive alignment and team unity.(~8 staff+ volunteers)
• Oversee program content design and delivery ensuring consistent, timely and relevant programs, workshops, webinars, activities and supports are offered to students and families.
• Actively assess and evaluate programs using key performance indicators and measurements.
• In collaboration with the Teacher Advisory Council, create and support teacher-led, professional learning communities that strengthen teacher networks.
• Develop a comprehensive plan to promote social and emotional learning as a proactive approach to support student well-being.
• Refine, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of programs with data-informed decision making, making modifications where needed to ensure continuous improvement.
• Strengthen program quality through people, processes and outcomes.
• Collaborate with district leadership, school leadership teams and  curriculum  specialists  to promote a shared vision to help students graduate with purpose with a college,  career and life plan that leads to success.
• Communicate various means of measuring programmatic quality to share our story with internal and external partners through evidence-based decision making and for grant reporting purposes.
• Design and offer professional development workshops for appropriate stakeholders as needed.
• Oversee the fiscal management of direct program services.
• Conduct research as needed to stay up-to-date on current issues in education
• Serve as an advocate and spokesperson in behalf of the Foundation to district personnel, parents, family intercommunity-at-large

Education, Experience and Qualifications:

• Master’s degree from an  accredited  educational  institution in Education, School Counseling or related discipline; doctorate preferred
• 10+ years’ experience working in education with increasing responsibilities, Florida public schools experience preferred
• Experience developing programs for teachers, students, families and volunteers
• Experience piloting new programs,  creating  effective  measurements,  and  scaling successful programs
• Strong computer and technology skills
• Ability to analyze data and form conclusions
• Knowledge of college and career counseling and use of community resources
• Knowledge of services and regulations  of  community  agencies, including  Child  and  Family Services, Juvenile Justice and the Health Department
• Ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing
• Bi-lingual a plus
• Experience building teams with a clear and cohesive purpose

This is a full-time, exempt, salaried position with benefits. Salary range is $95,000-$120,000.

Submit letter of interest and resume to careersefsc@edfoundationsrq.org

No phone calls, please.

iNEED

http://floridacollegeaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sarasota2021.pdf

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/b079d17d-6265-4166-a120-3b1f56077649/School-Counselors-Matter.pdf