Director of College and Career Readiness, KIPP Philadelphia Schools

Posted by KIPP Philadelphia Schools on June 20, 2016

Director of College and Career Readiness
Start: July 2016
Employment Type: Full-time
Location: Regional Office

KIPP Philadelphia Schools (KPS) is a network of free, public, open-enrollment schools for historically underserved students in Philadelphia, PA. KPS’s vision is to achieve its mission at critical mass – a cluster of schools in Philadelphia – thereby reinvigorating public education in this city through the performance of its students and the leadership of its educators. KPS currently operates four schools, and plans to expand to ten schools within the next five years, enrolling 4,400 students each year.

Position Overview
Reporting to the Managing Director of KIPP Through College, the Director of College and Career Readiness is responsible for creating and executing programming aimed at ensuring every KIPPster graduates high school with a clearly defined education-to-career pathway and having completed a variety of hands-on learning experiences that support their aspirations.

This person will accomplish this by: planning and executing career and college readiness efforts for students at KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy (KDCA) and connecting KIPP alumni outside KDCA to these opportunities, managing the Future Focus Internship Program for 11th graders at KDCA, and assisting with the development of other program components that lead to our alumni being better prepared to pursue their post-secondary aspirations.

• Plan and execute college and career readiness programming and events at KDCA
• Develop strong college and career readiness lesson plans as a part of a larger college and career readiness sequence for students in the 9th – 11th grades
• Serve as a liaison to KDCA’s 9th and 10th grade teams, working with each team to design a college and career readiness scope and sequence and ensuring that college and career readiness lessons are implemented with fidelity in 9th and 10th grade advisory
• Organize large-scale events for KDCA students including, but not limited to, mock interviews, Career Day, a Summer Activities Fair, and career-focused field trips
• Identify, build relationships with, advertise, and assist students as they apply to outside-of-school opportunities (volunteer opportunities, jobs, afterschool programs, summer activities) with the aim of developing students’ resumes in the 9th – 11th grades
• Collaborate with KTC staff member serving students attending non-KIPP high schools (a.k.a. Promise students) to connect these students to college and career-readiness opportunities as they arise
• Utilize Signal Vine and email newsletters to manage communication with Promise and KDCA students as appropriate
• Ensure KTC updates – including information about events, milestones, and opportunities – are regularly included in weekly and bi-weekly all-staff emails
• Manage the Future Focus Internship Program for 11th graders at KDCA
• Successfully place high school juniors in the Future Focus Internship Program, a hands-on summer learning experience between their Junior and Senior year.
• Serve as the primary liaison to all Future Focus internship hosts, recruit potential hosts, liaise with hosts over the course of the school year, plan events for hosts, and ensure that hosts have a positive summer internship experience
• Work closely with the Junior College Seminar teacher to write and execute career-readiness lesson plans, help Juniors create resumes and e-portfolios, and prepare students for the internship application and interview process
• Prepare students for their internships by leading a Pre-Internship Training that meets bi-weekly from March through June
• Support Future Focus interns over the course of their summer internships and lead continuing Professional Development for students over the summer
• Evaluate the Future Focus Internship Program annually, and make recommendations for program improvement to the MDKTC.
• Assist in the development of programs that prepare students for their post-secondary plan
• Work with the Director of College Placement to co-lead Project 30, an academic society for KDCA’s highest-potential 9th and 10th graders; in particular, connect Project 30 students to outside-of-school opportunities
• Lead KPS’s efforts to help students in grades K-12 prepare for the cost of college
• Connect regularly with other regions and organizations working in the career readiness arena and bring resources and ideas back to KIPP Philadelphia
• Determine how to best track career related data in the KIPP Alumni Database and ensure the tracking of that data occurs

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred
• Experience planning large events and managing relationships with many different stakeholders
• Experience creating and executing lesson plans, particularly in urban, educationally underserved environments
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Experience helping educationally underserved students and their families navigate application processes, particularly applications for college enrichment programs, summer employment opportunities, and outside-of-school opportunities
• Understanding of the youth-serving organizations and outside-of-school opportunities that exist for youth in the Philadelphia area
• Ability to exercise excellent judgment in decision-making; facilitate various size working groups, work collaboratively, and; gather and analyze data, compile information, and prepare reports
• Flexible and able to multi-task within an ambiguous, fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment, while also driving toward clarity and solutions
• Proficient in MS Office, particularly Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Uphold the KPS core values of respect, integrity, directness, grit, joy and commitment to the mission and vision of KPS
• Demonstrated commitment to working in a historically underserved community is a plus

Compensation
Salary is competitive with other Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) and commensurate with experience. Comprehensive benefits package included.

To Apply
KIPP Philadelphia Schools is an equal opportunity employer. Personnel are chosen on the basis of ability without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation, in accordance with federal and state law. To apply, visit http://www.kippphiladelphia.org/careers/view-all-job-openings.