Kindergarten Transition Fellowship, Office of Early Learning

Posted by School District of Philadelphia on February 15, 2016

OFFICE OF EARLY LEARNING, THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PHILADELPHIA
Kindergarten Transition Fellowship Opportunity
Application Deadline: 5:00 pm on Wednesday, February 24, 2016
(Further details included in “To Apply” section, below.)

Fellowship Overview:
The School District of Philadelphia is working to significantly upgrade the kindergarten transition experience for children and families. Specifically, the School District of Philadelphia is pursuing tangible solutions that accomplish the following:
• Ensure that all five-year-olds are identified, registered and enrolled in kindergarten several months before the school year begins so that not only are our children ready for kindergarten, but our kindergartens are ready for our children;
• Ensure that all families of incoming kindergarteners have an established working protocol around what to expect from their children’s teachers and are provided with meaningful tools and activities to facilitate smooth transition;
• Ensure that schools are able to support a smooth transition to kindergarten for all children by (1) meeting each family prior to the start of the school year; (2) reviewing relevant data and planning for the individual instructional needs of each incoming kindergartener; and (3) being fully staffed and equipped for the first day of school.

In order to support these efforts, the District’s Office of Early Learning is seeking a motivated and accomplished professional to serve as a Kindergarten Transition Fellow. The Fellow will work closely with the early learning team at the District as well as a variety of District partner agencies over the next two years to investigate and create solutions to the infrastructure and operational challenges that hinder successful kindergarten transition.

Responsibilities:
With support and partnership from the leadership in the Office of Early Learning over the next two years, the Fellow will research best practices and produce work plans to address the following:
• Timely, streamlined and complete kindergarten pre-registration;
• Working protocols and procedures for regular, frequent, individualized communications between schools and families beginning the year before kindergarten and extending through the first year of school;
• Data sharing protocols between the preK and K-12 sectors to ensure accurate census counts and timely and appropriate transfer of child and family records to support student development and progress and instructional planning; and
• Other infrastructure and operational solutions currently employed by other large urban school systems to support kindergarten transition.

Required Experience and Skills:
The successful candidate for this Fellowship opportunity will be an accomplished professional who can bring to the work the necessary mix of experience, creativity, motivation and understanding of the current local eco-system. Consequently, successful candidates will have: at least five years of relevant work experience, and preferably a master’s degree in education, public policy or a related field; a deep understanding of local preK-12 education policy and practice; the right temperament to successfully work with multiple constituencies who may have competing demands; a demonstrated ability to analyze complicated problems and propose workable solutions; a demonstrated ability to track multiple activities and produce quality deliverables on-time; persuasive and straightforward oral and written communication skills; Demonstrated success in building relationships with policymakers and other partners

Stipend:
The successful candidate will *not* be a full-time paid employee of the School District of Philadelphia. The Fellow will be paid a monthly or quarterly stipend at an agreed-upon rate commensurate with the individual’s experience and skill level.

To Apply:
No later than 5 pm on Wednesday, February 24, 2016, please email a cover letter and resume to: oece@philasd.org. Please include “Kindergarten Transition Fellowship” in the email’s subject line.