Executive Director, Teach for America Greater Philadelphia

Posted by on July 01, 2013

Teach for America – Greater Philadelphia
POSITION: Executive Director
REPORTS TO: Senior Vice President, Regional Operations
LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA
WEBSITE: http://www.teachforamerica.org
CONTACT: Sarah Samarasinghe
pbr executive search
202-320-0557
sarah@pbrsearch.com

ABOUT TEACH FOR AMERICA
Teach For America is the national corps of top recent college graduates who commit to teach for at least two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in the effort to expand educational opportunity. Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort. At the start of the 2011-2012 school year, more than 9,000 first- and second-year Teach For America corps members began teaching in 43 regions across the United States. Since 1990, Teach For America corps members have reached more than three million students. Nearly 24,000 Teach For America alumni are working in education and many other fields, where they continue to advocate for students and families in low-income communities. While only one in six corps members was interested in the teaching profession before joining Teach For America, nearly two-thirds of its alumni remain in the field of education. Teach For America’s culture and work is grounded in and guided by a deep commitment to pursuing true transformational change for students growing up in low-income communities. It is a leadership development organization – committed to fostering staff members, corps members and alumni who establish a clear and bold vision for the future, set measurable and ambitious goals, and work purposefully and strategically to achieve that vision. It is an organization committed to its people, to diversity and inclusion, and to operating with respect and humility toward the other important people and organizations working to advance the cause of educational excellence for all children. We are a  high-growth, outcomes-oriented organization, with a $220 million budget and over 1,500 staff. In 2011 and 2012, we were named a Fortune 100 Best Company to Work For. We operate in an entrepreneurial environment, maintain focus on quantitative measures, and are committed to continuous improvement.

POSITION SUMMARY
We are seeking an executive director to maximize Teach For America’s impact in Greater Philadelphia, both in the short term as we work to achieve our ambitious growth goals, and in the longer term to drive the vision and plan to end educational inequity in Greater Philadelphia. The work of the executive director is grounded in the ability to invest and engage local stakeholders as vital partners in this work and to effectively hire, manage and develop a team of high performing individuals to accomplish measurable results against ambitious goals. Teach For America’s 43 executive directors are a part of the national senior leadership team and operate at the forefront of ending educational inequity in this country, impacting the life trajectories of thousands of children.

The Greater Philadelphia executive director is supported by a local advisory board, reports to a senior vice president of regional operations, and manages a team of nearly 30 regional staff members. Today in Philadelphia, only 61% of kids from low-income backgrounds graduate from high school within four years, and only 10% will go on to graduate from college. It’s clear that not all of Philadelphia’s students are getting the education and opportunities they deserve.

Since 2003, Teach For America – Greater Philadelphia has been working in partnership with schools and community members across the region to change this reality. Each day, more than 250 corps members strive to be transformational teachers and leaders for the students of Philadelphia, Camden and Trenton, NJ.