Educator Engagement Manager

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is the third largest school district in the United States, serving over 370,000 students at 600 schools with 34,000 staff. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every childin every school and every neighborhoodhas access to a world-class learning experience from birth, resulting in graduation from high school college- and career-ready. And CPS students are making incredible progress. Last school year, CPS had a record-high graduation rate of 77.5% and continues to boast some of the fastest learning growth in the nation.

With a new CEO and former educator at the helm of CPS, the district is embarking upon an exciting new effort to engage, connect, and highlight educators more effectively across the district. The educators in CPS are a stakeholder group that is critically important, but often is not given the opportunity for effective engagement. Many times, the only platform for engaging educators is through other organizations. Teachers often express the desire to be more engaged in the district, have an opportunity for their voices to be heard, and to contribute to district decision-making.

Position Summary

The Educator Engagement Manager will lead efforts related to creating stronger paths to engaging teachers more effectively across the district. These responsibilities include developing strategies for bringing diverse groups of teachers to roundtables for their input on district decisions, visiting schools and connecting with Network Chiefs/principals/teachers across the district to highlight the work of teachers, creating virtual and in-person platforms for teachers to connect to share best practices and innovation, as well as creating a robust campaign for teacher appreciation. The Educator Engagement Manager will report to the Deputy Chief of Staff to the CEO and will liaise closely with the Chief Education Office and the Office of Communications.

Specific Responsibilities Include:

• Develop, conduct and analyze a landscape scan of the current means and methods for engaging educators in the district, the needs and desires for engagement from educators across the district, and effective educator engagement strategies in other districts;

• Organize teacher roundtables with diverse groups of educators with engagement from various CPS leaders in order to elicit input on district decisions and work priorities;

• Plan, coordinate, and lead cross-district teacher PLCs that allow opportunities for teachers to engage in cycles of inquiry around a problem of practice and visit each other's schools;

• Coordinate opportunities for informal, frequent teacher engagement through technology and for methods to showcase powerful practices in classrooms across the district;

• Plan and execute a robust Teacher Appreciation Week campaign in partnership with the Office of Communications, the Talent Office, and the Chief Education Office;

• Plan and execute a communications strategy centered around teacher appreciation and recognizing excellence among educators, including ways to highlight and elevate positive teacher stories more publicly and to benchmark efforts with national best practices;

• Track success and engagement across various communication platforms and messages, using data to identify optimal forms of communication and engagement with CPS teachers and teaching candidates;

• Report frequently on the success and challenges in teacher engagement efforts and identify ways to improve overall effectiveness of these initiatives;

• Liaise, coordinate and collaborate consistently with members of the Office of Communications on messaging, timing and content;

• Partner closely with internal members of the Office of Teaching and Learning and other members of the Chief Education to ensure work is aligned and coherent across district efforts;

• Identify and capture stories of CPS educator excellence to promote as positive messages about CPS and its educators and to connect educators in learning opportunities across the district; and

• Related duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Exceptional written communication skills, with an understanding of how format and tone affect message;

• Exemplary judgment and discretion, unflinching professionalism and positive attitude;

• Demonstrated understanding of current educational issues, teacher effectiveness efforts, key stakeholder organizations locally and nationally;

• Comfort collaborating and communicating across a diverse range of audiences, including executive leaders, principals, teachers and support staff;

• Strong organizational, interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills and ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously with strong attention to detail;

• Commitment to CPS leadership's vision for success, including support and respect of colleagues and the communities CPS serves;

• Comfort with ambiguity and establishing a direction on one's own, with frequent support but minimal direct supervision; and

• Self-motivation, dedication and an outcome-oriented style.

Education and Professional Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree from an accredited college or university required.

• 4-5 years of experience teaching in the classroom is required.

• 3-5 years of work experience in a team-based environment is required, which can include instructional and departmental teams.

• Candidate must have experience leading teams and developing high-qualty professional development for adults.

• Candidate must have experience using social media platforms to communicate messages and connect groups of people, as well as strong writing skills and the ability to produce written content for digital or print publication.