Director of Academic Policy & Systems

About Mastery:

We believe educational inequity is the most pressing social problem facing our country and the civil rights issue of our day. Mastery exists to help solve this problem. Our ultimate goal is to create a model urban school district that serves all students with excellence. We are organized around one driving mission: All students learn the academic and personal skills they need to be truly prepared for postsecondary success and able to pursue their dreams. To fulfill this mission, we attend to the whole child â€" academically and emotionally â€" matching high expectations for students with high levels of support.

Mastery Charter Schools is a nonprofit network of more than 24 schools serving over 14,000 students in Philadelphia and Camden. We are the largest turnaround school operator in the nation and have been lauded by President Obama and the US Department of Education for our ability to dramatically boost academic achievement in historically low-performing schools.

We know neighborhood schools matter, all students deserve access to a great education, and the people in our buildings can grow and develop sustainably to make the biggest impact possible in this work.

Mastery's Equity Vision:

We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential to achieving our mission.

We strive to be an anti-racist school district that eliminates the inequities in academic achievement that limit our students’ choices; that cultivates classrooms where every student is affirmed, supported, and held to high expectations; and that nurtures a diverse organization where students, staff, and families are valued, respected, and included .

Position Summary:

The Director, Academic Policy & Systems supports our network by ensuring that all academic policies & systems are clear, comprehensive, and well-executed. The Director, Academic Policy & Systems supports schools in ensuring the vision and rationale for academic policy & systems is well-articulated and that all school leaders and staff have the training, resources, and support they need to implement academic policy and systems with a high level of quality to support all our students in learning and thriving.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:



• Secondary Scheduling Support
• Manage the secondary scheduling process by developing a comprehensive cross-functional work plan to coordinate across NST Academic, Finance, Talent and Operations teams to support early and proactive planning for the upcoming school year
• Collaborate with NST Academic content team members to draft and revise secondary scheduling manual - ensuring all schools are operating on a common foundation on key instructional parameters in alignment with our network’s vision for instructional excellence
• Provide training and ongoing support to school leadership teams to support drafting high-quality master schedules that support student achievement and meet the needs of each school’s students
• Collaborate with NST Data team to provide technical support and advisement to Assistant Principals of Operations who are responsible for managing scheduling within our Student Information System, and ensure schedules are completed in a timely manner and shared with students and families well in advance of the upcoming school year
• Support the planning, change management, and communication process in potential transitioning all network’s secondary schools to a block scheduling model for SY22-23



• Grading
• Draft and update grading policy manual to align with Mastery’s strategic approach to ensure grading is rigorous, standards-aligned and accurately reflects each student’s learning progress
• Devise and implement strong systems for quarterly report card distribution and parent-teacher conferences in collaboration with the NST Data team to ensure families and students have regular access to student performance
• Provide training and ongoing support to school leadership teams and support quality checks and monitoring of high-quality implementation of grading policy across schools
• Develop a strategic, innovative, and flexible high school credit recovery program that allows students to recover credits over the summer and during the SY to get back on-track to meet graduation requirements
• Analyze grading data on a quarterly basis to identify trends and determine changes needed to grading policy and implementation to better serve our students and families
• Collaborate closely with the NST Data & Equity teams on our Student Information System, Learning Management System, and related systems to ensure grading practices are clear, efficient and streamlined for school staff, families & students



• High School Graduation Requirements
• Analyze state requirements and current practices to date to establish a clear and rigorous policy for high school graduation requirements across the network
• Manage strong processes to support schools on monitoring and completion of NJ & PA state high school graduation requirements across all high school students
• Support high schools on transcript auditing to ensure all transcripts accurately reflect student progress towards high school graduation requirements
• Support schools towards establishing clear processes for alternative approaches to meeting high school graduation requirements (e.g., submission of a student work portfolio) in alignment with all NJ & PA state requirements
• Coordinate this work stream in close collaboration with the NST Post-Secondary, Assessment & Compliance teams to ensure strong alignment



• OTHER JOB FUNCTIONS:
• Establish and facilitate a strong quarterly review cycle of Mastery student learning outcomes with the NST Academic team to ensure student learning is driving our continuous improvement efforts to improve support of school leaders and teachers
• Actively contribute to the development of Mastery’s high-school re-design long-term strategy to improve how we prepare our students for post-secondary success
• Support planning and execution of summer learning programming in close collaboration with the Senior Director, Academic Operations
• Support planning and execution of SY21-22 high-dosage tutoring across campuses in close collaboration with the Senior Director, Academic Operations
• Manage additional special projects and other tasks, as assigned

Qualifications:

• Strong commitment to taking action to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the work environment
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to work effectively with a diverse group of people
• Strong organizational and project management skills and the ability to handle multiple projects and responsibilities simultaneously in an ambiguous and constantly changing environment
• Strong customer service orientation and a commitment to ensuring a high level of personal and professional care for all colleagues and stakeholders
• Relentless student-centered orientation and belief that all students have the potential to learn and thrive
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in a clear and compelling manner and share information on complex processes and systems in an easily understandable way to diverse stakeholders
• Ability to foster a cooperative work environment
• Ability to serve as a trusted advisor with school leaders and teachers and build positive, supportive working relationships
• Ability to analyze data, identify trends and tell a clear and compelling narrative of what the data is saying
• Ability to work with computers, various software programs and other technology, especially the Microsoft Office and Google suites
• Willingness to balance the need for developing compelling vision and strategy with focusing on high-quality, detail-oriented execution
• Knowledge and experience with grading systems/policies, scheduling and/or CTE programming

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• At least five (5) years of successful teaching experience OR prior management experience of at least three (3) years required as a teacher leader, school leader and/or central office leader
• At least two (2) years of experience working in urban education serving low-income communities strongly preferred
• Experience working with eSchool or a similar student information system preferred

Physical/Environmental:

• Ability to physically perform the essential duties of the role â€" either on-site or remotely, and to work in the environmental conditions required, such as: traveling to network campuses; maneuvering in office spaces (including standing, walking, sitting for long periods of time, speaking loudly and clearly, seeing and hearing things both near and far away); stooping, kneeling, reaching file cabinets/shelves; fine finger and hand manipulation in use of computer, chalkboard, dry erase, &/or projectors; filing, faxing, scanning, coping, typing, mailing, and making phone calls; sitting for up to two (2) hours looking at a computer monitor, using a keyboard/mouse, and typing.

Other Requirements:

• Position requires local travel to Mastery and other sites. Must have access to reliable transportation.

Mastery Charter Schools is an equal opportunity employer and actively encourages applications from people of all backgrounds. Compensation is competitive and commensurate with experience. We offer a full benefits program and opportunities for professional growth.

UPDATE AS OF MARCH 2021 - Please review Mastery’s Back to School Plans here to learn about our response to COVID-19 for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years. For ongoing positions, Mastery roles are designated as in-person, with regular on-site responsibilities, unless otherwise noted. As such, Employees must be able to support Mastery Schools’ academic plan and business strategies on-site â€" at a Mastery campus - as required.

Exceptions to this requirement will be considered on an individualized basis.