Program Coordinator, Computer Science Grants

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the third-largest school district in the United States, serving over 340,000 students in 600+ schools and employing nearly 36,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments - student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

The Program Coordinator, Computer Science Grants will be responsible for the implementation of grant-funded research and administrative processes supporting the Office of Computer Science's mission to bring relevant, engaging computer science (CS) experience to every student in Chicago Public Schools. The Program Coordinator will create public- and internally-facing knowledge structures, including but not limited to a public website and an internal knowledge base in order to improve department executive function by streamlining and improving organizational processes and routines. This position will leverage their skills in program and project management capacities to collaborate with other institutional partners on funding and grant implementation opportunities, as well as district-wide projects. In addition, the Program Coordinator will facilitate grant-funded programs and projects in the department, such as professional development, teacher endorsement, student leadership opportunities, and communication about all CS Department programming.

The Program Coordinator will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Coordinate the implementation of programs and projects funded by the National Science Foundation and other federal, state, and local agencies
• Collaborate on grant writing and other funding opportunities
• Develop a departmental online presence, including public-facing website and/or CPS intranet
• Create and maintain infrastructure for departmental knowledge base
• Maintain and expand online and social media presence
• Maintain and create graphical assets to facilitate department-wide educational efforts
• Manage inter-institutional partnerships to facilitate teacher training and endorsement in computer science
• Manage intra-institutional processes such as computer science course waiver applications
• Identify ways to improve or streamline processes; assist with the identification and evaluation of department productivity and other technical tools as well as potential sources of tools and materials for cohort schools
• In conjunction with the CS team, design, develop, organize and deploy student engagement activities such as teaching assistant programs, advisory councils, etc.
• Coordinate distribution, administration, scoring, and analysis of student assessments
• Manage district-wide CS graduation requirement waiver system
• Other duties as assigned

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Program Coordinator must possess the following qualifications:

Education Required:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university

Experience Required:

• Minimum of three (3) years of professional experience in the coordination of programs, grants, or other relevant work.
• A minimum of one year of experience in education, nonprofit, technology-related or business-related functions
• Experience with website design and development, HTML, CSS, Javascript
• Experience with Google Data Studio or other data visualization tools
• Experience successfully collaborating to manage programs and projects across multiple teams

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Excellent organizational, time management and multitasking skills; able to manage multiple priorities concurrently
• Ability to create metrics, maintain and analyze large data sets in order to glean insights, measure success and make recommendations
• Leadership skills for creating complex, multi-layered collaborations between school and network administrators, teachers and students
• Strong verbal and written communication skills as needed for collaboration with a wide variety of stakeholders.
• Ability to maintain a positive attitude in a fast-paced work environment amid shifting priorities
• Ability to develop and maintain positive relationships across all levels of the organization.

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district.
• Be Fully Vaccinated or Submit to Weekly COVID-19 Testing -Employees are required to be fully vaccinated within 30 days of their hire date. Full vaccination is defined as at least two weeks after your second shot of a two-shot vaccination course, or at least two weeks after a one-shot vaccination course. Unvaccinated staff must submit to weekly testing.