Director of Literacy

Position Title: Director of Literacy

Location: Brooklyn, New York

Categories: Ascend Network

Start Date: Immediate

Description: Brooklyn, New York
Ascend Network
3143
Immediate

Job Description

Overview

The Director of Literacy is responsible for overseeing the development and effective execution of Ascend’s Common Core-aligned curriculum and assessment, which incorporates both explicit teaching and inquiry learning. The Director develops and delivers professional development and provides coaching to school leaders and teachers to ensure our curriculum and instruction is driving results for all students.

Responsibilities

The Director will champion Ascend’s rich liberal arts-focused humanities curriculum and assessments, with an emphasis on data driven work, and deep capacity for professional development and training.
Under the direction of the Managing Director of Teaching and Learning, the Director will:

• Adapt, curate, and pace Ascend’s Common Core-aligned humanities curriculum and assessments
• Develop materials and supports or leads professional development for various members of the school’s leadership team and teachers focused on literacy content and the highest fidelity of implementation of the curricula; and
• Utilize academic data to adjust and focus curricula, instruction, assessment, and professional development.

With regards to curricula, the director will:

• Produce excellent curriculum materials, and elevate the humanities program.
• Develop and continually evaluate the scope and sequence of the humanities.
• Oversee the creation and refinement of exemplary curriculum materials aligned to the Common Core State Standards.
• Master the material in our curriculum archives located on ShareFile.
• Work closely with the Managing Director of Teaching and Learning to establish the vision, scope and goals for all Ascend humanities materials and their implementation.
• Research and deepen best practices in literacy curriculum, professional development to ensure that Ascend has the strongest and most up-to-date balanced literacy curriculum in our elementary schools.
• Collaborate with other literacy team associate directors, and the CDT as a whole on key cross curricular initiatives such as research into writing across the curriculum and project-based learning, and formative assessments.
• In collaboration with the Schools Team, build positive and efficient working relations with the Ascend central academic team and with the leadership teams of each school.

With regards to professional development, the director will:

• Design and deliver a range of ongoing professional development sessions that support the vision for the humanities program, implementation of the curriculum and growth of core literacy skills and knowledge. They will aid relevant school leaders in planning for or delivering ELA/humanities content for teacher planning and development meetings to ensure that teachers deeply understand the content.
• Serve as a resource for school based leaders when curricular, assessment, and instructional questions arise surrounding the literacy program and materials.
• Participate in frequent (at least once monthly) collaborative site visits focused on implementation at each school that support the school’s implementation of the humanities curriculum. These visits will push content-specific instructional practices, gather information on best practices, support program fidelity and ELA instruction across all programs.
• Lead, monitor and support “content study groups” of deans of instruction, grade team leaders, and Humanities teachers at every school to ensure that teachers deeply understand the content they will teach.
• Collect and analyze videos of exemplary teaching practices around strong implementation of literacy components and curate an initial body of annotated student work for each elementary school literacy component.
• On occasion, identify, qualify, and secure expert third-party curriculum coaches for certain programs to ensure that these programs are implemented with the highest fidelity; coordinate the work of these coaches in the schools.

With regards to data analysis, the director will:

• Analyze student data using periodic reports and data meetings to determine how to support schools with implementation and action planning as well as making future improvements to curricular products and instructional materials.
• Develop curriculum elements in response to data, incorporating initial implementation and feedback as part of the process.
  In collaboration with Ascend’s director of data and analytics, use academic data to adjust and focus instruction, using periodic reports and data meetings.

Staff and reporting relationships

The director shall report directly to the Managing Director of Teaching and Learning, will manage the humanities work and will collaborate closely with other members across all Ascend teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree, with an advanced degree strongly preferred
• A sustained record of outstanding academic results
• Four or more years teaching experience with exceptional results in literacy instruction
• Two or more years of experience developing staff and delivering outstanding professional development
• A deep understanding of the Common Core ELA standards and New York’s Common Core-aligned state ELA assessments, and the NY Standards and Regents themes in English and history in elementary grades, with an eye toward the changes the Next Generation Standards will bring in ELA

Skills, Traits, and Beliefs

A successful director of lower school literacy will demonstrate:

• A bold, tireless, engaging change agent and culture-creator; a visionary; a leader who communicates a love of learning and passion for literacy development at every stage of child and adult development.
• Exceptional self-motivation, entrepreneurial spirit and team orientation.
• Collaborative decision-making style, with a proven track record of working effectively with diverse individuals to drive decision-making and results.
• Self-awareness, with an ability to treat members of Ascend Learning and school communities with respect
• An accurate sense strength and growth areas for self and team.
  Absolute integrity.
• A broad familiarity with ELA pedagogies and programs and effective practices.
• Intimate knowledge of the Core Knowledge History and Geography scope and sequence and other leading, Common Core and Regents-aligned social studies and history sequences.
• Exemplary curriculum and assessment writing skills.
• Expertise in elementary school literacy and research findings.
• Superb organizational, project management, self-management skills, and problem-solving skills.
• Success managing adults and creating growth plans for direct reports.
• A mindset of excellence with upholding the highest standards for beautifully written, error-free curricula.
• Excellent presentation skills and the ability to train and coach educators.
• Passion and commitment to urban education and our ultimate goal of closing the achievement gap.
• Passion for reading literature and historical texts in a range of genres and forms and an appreciation for great writing in all genres.
• Insistence on academic excellence and rigor.
• Excellent communication skills (written and oral).
• A hunger for feedback and an openness to engage in a process of self-improvement.
• Alignment with the educational philosophy and core beliefs of Ascend Learning.
• Commitment to improving the minds and lives of students from low-income communities; dedication to doing whatever it takes to help all students achieve academic success.
• Passion for academic rigor and insistence on excellence at all times.
• Maturity, humility, strong work ethic, and “roll-up-my-sleeves” attitude.

Compensation

Initial salary offers for this position range from $105,000 - $120,000. Salaries are determined using an equitable compensation scale that accounts for years of experience and levels of attained education.

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