5 jobs found

Start Date: Immediate Role Type: Full Time Location: Flexible Geography, Remote/Virtual Team   Who We Are: Transcend is education’s “R&D Engine,” enabling communities to imagine, create, and spread learning environments that truly prepare all students for what the future demands. We do this by playing two vital roles : We expand the supply of innovative, replicable school models to give communities everywhere a broader and more diverse range of options to adopt We grow demand and readiness for innovation in communities across the country, so they are eager to adopt these models and innovate in effective ways. To play these roles, we are building three core assets that not only serve our work but also grow the field’s capacity for R&D in critical ways: World-class school design offerings that support communities as they imagine, design, build, test, codify, and share innovative school models An open-source knowledge hub that captures, synthesizes, and shares key insights, evidence, and products to reimagine school A vibrant network of schools, talent, experts, other education nonprofits, and funders who support and amplify our - and each other’s - work. The Opportunity:   Come build and sustain the financial health and smooth operations for a caring and driven team -- who dedicate their efforts every day to redesigning school so that all young people can thrive. As the first Director of Finance and Operations on our team, you will lead and improve upon our financial and operational systems, develop new approaches to better support our team as we grow, and provide hands-on support to budget managers. By stewarding and managing our financial resources and operations, you will get a birds-eye view of an entrepreneurial nonprofit in action, and provide critical support to people across the organization. Transcend is a young and growing nonprofit; entering year 4 of operations with ~30 teammates nationwide. The role can be based anywhere in the US, and as a fully virtual/remote team, you are can work from anywhere (home, etc.). Travel expected 3 times/year for ~3 days at a time; primarily for team collaboration and strategy work. This role reports to Emily Rummo, Partner; who functions like a COO for the organization. Your Job:   Financial Modeling, Analysis, and Reporting Own Transcend’s Financial Model -- Revamp and manage our financial model to forecast our various revenue sources and costs. Manage monthly and annual financial reporting for Transcend; including ‘management-views’ and GAAP-compliant financials. Coordinate with the Development team to create and report on all grant budgets, and properly track philanthropy. Lead all financial compliance -- including managing to (and adjusting as needed) our Internal Financial Controls, and over time, taking leadership of our annual audit in partnership with our outsourced accounting partner Oversee third-party bookkeeper and review financial data monthly to ensure accuracy, and timeliness of payments from partners, etc. Support team leads with setting, and managing to, project and function-level budgets Cash Flow forecasting   Human Resources (HR) + Operations: Systems Creation and Team Support Create and manage partner and vendor MOUs/contracts Lead the contracting process and HR/Ops for independent contractors who contribute to our school design teams. Research benefits options for Transcend, and ensure our outsourced PEO is working well for our team. In partnership with the Talent team, support onboarding of new teammates. Contribute to shaping and supporting our thriving team culture; including a commitment to applying a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) lens to all the work that you do. Leading Special Projects in Finance/Operations/Human Resources   There is great variety here! We expect these projects will draw on your skills in analytical thinking, research and synthesis, systems-thinking, and project-management. They will vary by length and over time, as the organization continues to strengthen and grow. Examples could be: Researching and recommending systems to support finance and operations for our growth (e.g., Can we stay on Quickbooks forever? How can we best understand project-level costs on a real-time basis? etc.) Researching, and modeling out cost implications if/as relevant, of potential new policies for Transcend (in the HR and Benefits realm) Participating in our Knowledge-Management taskforce Who You Are: You love math (and Excel!), and relish the sweet moment when your complex analysis ties-out. You are precise and neat with your numbers, and spending quiet hours in the financial model brings you joy. When you aren’t deep in the numbers -- you are musing on the most efficient, values-grounded system that might solve a problem, or improve team operations for everyone. Knowing that your work straddles multiple ‘departments’, you are masterful in managing your time and flexible: balancing competing demands and communicating actively with others who rely on you. Although you are comfortable working remotely, you understand and appreciate that your work is deeply connected with that of others -- and build trusting relationships with a variety of teammates. You openly share your goals and ask for help when you need it; so work can be well coordinated especially in a virtual environment. The opportunity to work for a small, growing startup -- and all that entails -- sounds like fun. You are comfortable with ambiguity, flexible to adjust to changing needs, and eager to roll-up your sleeves to help build Transcend as an institution. And, you love that your everyday work is in service to a mission that matters. You believe deeply in the power of education to change lives, and can’t wait to provide your analytical and operational expertise and ongoing learning to this cause. Join Us! To apply, please submit your resume (or digital equivalent) and 1-2 work samples that demonstrate 1) your analytical skills/ finance skills, and optionally 2) your project management, research, and/or synthesis skills. We understand and anticipate that the data in work samples may need to be anonymized.  Please note that cover letters are not required (really!) At Transcend, we celebrate, we support, and we thrive on difference and diversity for the benefit of our team members, our partnerships, and our community. Transcend is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and hires without consideration of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.  

Start Date: Immediate Role Type: Full-time Location: Flexible Who We Are: Transcend is a national nonprofit that leads innovation in school design in close partnership with visionary school operators around the country. We focus on innovation in every aspect of the holistic design of schools—from the aims of school, to students’ experiences, to the use of time, to the roles of educators and families and surrounding communities, to physical space, and much more—to prepare all students for far greater success in the 21st century. We do this through: developing and replicating new school model designs, in close partnership with visionary school operators (in district, charter, and independent schools) building a diverse, cross-disciplinary force of talent for the sector, who can perform the deep R&D needed for school innovation building and sharing actionable knowledge for the sector on how to do school model innovation and change management As a Research and Knowledge Development Associate, you will help us answer some of education’s thorniest questions: How can schools make learning fun and rigorous? How can schools provide students with the right level of autonomy appropriate to their development? What assessments most effectively gauge the evolution in students’ social emotional skills? The results of your work will be used to inspire the design of curricula, staffing, policy, and so much more both within and beyond Transcend! The Nitty Gritty Surface and synthesize research and best practices, drawing from various sources including: Written material such as peer reviewed and professional journals covering a range of fields (e.g. education, psychology, neuroscience, sociology, adult learning, organizational theory, change management, etc.) as well as high-quality white papers and research summaries from Transcend’s peer organizations Conversations with luminary researchers and leaders at other organizations tackling similarly thorny problems Interviews and observations with school operators whose students are achieving amazing results academically, socially, emotionally, and beyond Artifacts from Transcend’s work with school partners Create comprehensive and rigorous yet concise and accessible deliverables based on research to support the work of school design teams and share with the larger education sector Think critically and creatively about the research surfaced, the content and format of each individual deliverable, and how deliverables relate to each other to ensure the creation of products that are thorough, useful, and cohesively aligned Test the accessibility and usefulness of deliverables and adapt them based on user feedback Who You Are You are deeply curious. As you go about your day, you see a million questions just begging to be answered—and, when something grabs your interest, there’s no stopping you! You have a black belt in Advanced Internet Super Sleuthing; in fact, when others see a “dead end,” you see an opportunity to get creative. For you, it’s part of the thrill. And while you always get your answer, not just any answer will do—it’s got to stand up to your rigorous standards. Of course, you realize finding your answer is only half the battle. You also have to share it, and share it well! To do this precise and simple language, compelling visuals, and powerful organizing frameworks are your tools of choice--with them you can disentangle wicked problems, connect a dozen dots, and make the opaquest ideas crystal clear. Before you’re satisfied, the Notorious RBG would be proud to argue your answer in court: it’s got ironclad evidence, complex ideas have been made simple, and it's wrapped in a narrative that would compel even the biggest skeptic. Tell your mama that the questions you help answer have the potential to be your legacy—they will transform education as we know it! Sample Day in the Life AM You start your day by getting on Slack to see what’s happening across Transcend, you message the Knowledge team with a couple of questions that are percolating in your brain, you see a super interesting resource shared by the Yellow Hats League related to assessing social emotional learning (SEL) and save it for later You join a call with a school partner to better understand what they are hoping to learn about competency-based instruction and assessment approaches You draft a quick work plan based on your school-partner call and find time to discuss it with the whole Knowledge team later in the week You check in with your home-base manager and get feedback on the SEL assessment deliverable you outlined last week PM You join a Transcend-wide call to get to know team members more deeply, build relationships, and reflect on our work You spend part of your afternoon digging into the topic of SEL assessment by reading the resource you found on Slack that morning and then searching for additional resources through Google, on the websites of other organizations you know are doing great things, and through ProQuest Your spend the rest of the afternoon reading some of the new resources you found, updating your outline on SEL assessment, and making a list of individuals you want to set up calls with You make some time to review the agenda for a call with a different school partner happening in a few day and you set a reminder to draft some additional questions for the call so you can really harvest great learnings about the new conscious discipline approach they are trying You close out your day by responding to some emails and Slack messages, including some great ideas from your team shared related to the questions you posted that morning Qualifications Noteworthy experience researching (e.g. you’ve refined research questions, conducted literature reviews, and have compiled and presented findings to stakeholders) Experience working in or with PK-12 education organizations as a teacher, school leader, member of a school support organization, researcher, etc. Excellent organizational, planning, and time management skills Remarkable aptitude for looking critically at disparate information, drawing meaningful conclusions, and constructing conceptual frameworks that bring everything together Exceptional writing skills punctuated by the ability to communicate complex ideas in precise, simple, well-organized, and accessible ways A knack for finding ways to communicate complex ideas with simplicity and grace, especially for audiences of school practitioners Proven experience thriving in ambiguity and in dynamically changing contexts Aptitude for internalizing the goals of a client or project and working iteratively to improve on deliverables until goals are met or exceeded The Benefits As a Research and Knowledge Development Associate at Transcend, you’ll have opportunities to: Develop resources (e.g. lit reviews, case studies, other medium) that may be published on Transcend’s website Influence the next breakthrough ‘school’ models Work closely with Transcend’s Build Knowledge team Contribute on the cutting-edge of school model design To Apply Are you excited about identifying research and finding practice-based examples that can influence the redesign of “schools”? If so, please attach a resume (or digital equivalent) and one work sample that showcases your ability to synthesize information and other strengths relevant to this position to your application.   We’re an equal opportunity employer, and hire without consideration of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability. We strongly encourage all candidates to apply.  

Start Date : Immediate Role Type: Full-time Who We Are Transcend is education’s “R&D Engine,” enabling communities to imagine, create, and spread learning environments that truly prepare all students for what the future demands. We do this by playing two vital roles : We expand the supply of innovative, replicable school models to give communities everywhere a broader and more diverse range of options to adopt We grow demand and readiness for innovation in communities across the country, so they are eager to adopt these models and innovate in effective ways. To play these roles, we are building three core assets that not only serve our work but also grow the field’s capacity for R&D in critical ways: World-class school design offerings that support communities as they imagine, design, build, test, codify, and share innovative school models An open-source knowledge hub that captures, synthesizes, and shares key insights, evidence, and products to reimagine school A vibrant network of schools, talent, experts, other education nonprofits, and funders who support and amplify our - and each other’s - work. The Opportunity As a start-up organization with a push-the-boundaries view of education, we’re excited by new ideas and the prospect of building and maintaining great, scalable systems from day 1. We need an Operations Coordinator who thrives in a fast-paced virtual organization, and can help us be efficient, stay organized, and use our time most effectively. We have a portfolio approach to work -- so each team member's projects periodically shifts. Your first set of projects will include supporting the teams focused on school partnerships. You’ll draft and manage important communications, be the first line of communication in many instances, prepare for meetings and presentations, mastermind travel plans, conduct research, manage select team members’ calendars (to support external partnerships and hiring), and tackle special projects.   You’ll report to Jenee Henry Wood, Chief of Staff, and will work closely with other members of the team. The Nitty Gritty There’s no boxing you in, my friend-- you’ll learn and grow with us! In this role, you will: (60%) Support Team Coordination + Operations, including: Scheduling, preparing meeting agendas, and managing logistics and materials Participating in meetings, taking notes and recording ‘next steps’ Tracking, prioritizing, and holding us accountable for delegated tasks and project milestones to ensure we hit our deadlines Organizing materials, food, space, support and follow-up for events/visits Making travel arrangements, when needed, for teammates participating in events Supporting three teammates leading workstreams by scheduling meetings and other calendar support Travel a minimum of 3 times per year (20%) Manage internal and external communications school partners and other stakeholders, including: Writing and editing emails and other written materials on behalf of the team (20%) Manage special projects, including: Supporting execution of on-the-ground operations for full team retreats (3 times annually) Who You Are You believe deeply that all students deserve an excellent education, and that too few receive that today. You excel at thinking through all the small, behind-the-scenes details that create powerful, nurturing experiences for all. You take initiative, manage your time effectively, and pride yourself on your ability to get and stay organized. You enjoy helping others get organized, too (if only your best friend would ask for help tackling their closets...). You’re optimistic, a problem-solver, and enjoy finding flexible, effective solutions where there’s not always a “right” answer. You’re open to feedback, eager to grow, and bring your best to everything you do. You like being part of a team, and make and keep friends easily. You have a sense of humor, and want to work with others who do, too!   Qualifications Highly-dependable, demonstrates integrity working w/ sensitive information and data   Exceptionally organized (you just might have systems for your systems…) Track record of consistently delivering high-quality work against deadlines   Exceptional interpersonal skills and relationship-building skills with staff at all levels   Comfortable working with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel), and Google Apps (Gmail, Drive, Docs) Strong written and verbal communication skills   Flexible, thrives in ambiguity, optimistic, hungry to grow and improve Previous experience in a start-up environment or education reform a plus Driver’s license preferred Join Us! Are you excited about rethinking what it means for schools to deliver an outstanding education? Can you be the glue that helps us remain connected, organized, and happy? If so, apply below! Please note that cover letters are not required (really!) At Transcend, we celebrate, we support, and we thrive on difference and diversity for the benefit of our team members, our partnerships, and our community. Transcend is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and hires without consideration of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.

JOB TITLE: Contract Administration Specialist   ABOUT KIPP TEXAS PUBLIC SCHOOLS   For more than 15 years, KIPP Austin, KIPP Dallas-Fort Worth, KIPP Houston, and KIPP San Antonio have put thousands of KIPPsters on the path to and through college. Last year, we collectively educated over 25,000 students in more than 50 schools, covering a geographic area of over 400 miles. Our regions have a long history of informal collaboration, with teachers and staff members sharing ideas, curricula, professional development, facilities, finances, end-of-year field trips, and more. As of the 2018-2019 school year, all KIPP schools in Texas join forces as KIPP Texas Public Schools, a state-wide network of schools dedicated to supporting students to and through college!   The Opportunity   The primary purpose of this position is to assist with reviewing, negotiating and managing contracts including amendments, extensions, versioning and archives to meet the needs of KIPP Texas, Inc. dba KIPP Texas Public Schools. Under general supervision, the Contract Administration Specialist is responsible for reviewing and creating contracts that reduce liability, include advantageous terms and conditions and create the best value for KIPP Texas, Inc.  The Contract Administration Specialist will help to create a systematic method for requesting contract reviews, help communicate the difference between an MOU, Contract or Lease and work with Procurement to ensure contracts are compliant.   Key Responsibilities   The Contract Administration Specialist will: Prepare contracts and agreements for products and services Review and assist with negotiating contract terms, conditions and pricing Create standardized language for new KIPP Texas, Inc. contracts Prepare and maintain contract versioning and archives via the electronic procurement system Create and disseminate reports as needed Perform other job-related duties as assigned   Skills and Qualifications   Education and Knowledge: ·                 Bachelor’s preferred, plus minimum of 2 years experience working in a relevant capacity Skills: ·                 Strong understanding of contract terms, state and Federal contract laws ·               Articulate, professional demeanor with strong self-confidence and initiative ·               Proven written and verbal communication skills ·               Excellent interpersonal skills ·               Ability to work with a wide-range of people and personalities ·               Must be flexible and have the ability to work in a constantly changing environment ·               Attention to detail and a high level of accuracy ·               Strong organizational and planning skills ·                 Ability to work well under pressure and to multi-task, with a proven record of meeting deadlines ·                 Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) ·               Proficiency using computers, printers, copy machines, and fax machines   Compensation and Benefits Salary is based on years of experience, degree of education, and level of expertise. A competitive benefits package is also offered.     ABOUT KIPP KIPP is a non-profit network of 200 college-preparatory, public charter schools educating elementary, middle, and high school students. We believe that all students will learn and achieve at high levels if given the opportunity. Our mission is to help students develop the knowledge, skills, and character strengths they need to seize those opportunities. Great education transforms lives.     KIPP provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. As an equal opportunity employer, we hire without consideration to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status or disability.

A.Job Summary  The regional engagement manager will be responsible for supporting the Texas Charter Schools Association grassroots advocacy strategy by organizing and equipping parents, building strong relationships with key stakeholders including but not limited to school leaders, teachers, staff, community leaders and elected officials at both local and state levels.  B. Supervisory  Position Reports to: Vice President of Strategic Engagement Positions Supervised: None C. Essential Job Functions 1. Implement advocacy and community engagement strategies to help support charter schools  2. Ensure that parents, teachers and other stakeholders are prepared to engage in local and state advocacy efforts 3. Develop partnerships with like-minded organizations that can provide support for charter schools 4. Engage parents and equip them with consistent, compelling, accurate information about public charter schools and involve them in advocacy efforts 5. Create opportunities for charter school leaders, parents, teachers, and other advocates to share their stories and messages with key community groups and individuals 6. Organize applicable parent training focused on grassroots advocacy efforts 7. Engage key stakeholders and organizations including school tours and opportunities to meet parents, teachers, students, board members, and others 8. Implement get out the vote opportunities in the identified region D. Additional Job Functions: 1. Maintain regular and punctual attendance 2. Flexibility in scheduling as some responsibilities may require occasional evening or weekend work 3. Approximately 20% office time and 80% travel and engagement between schools in the Central Texas area  4. Work cooperatively with others. 5. The ability to work independently to achieve performance goals with minimal supervision 6. Comply with all company policies and procedures. 7. Physical demands include driving and some light physical labor including room setups and carrying printed materials E. Additional Responsibilities 1. Skilled writer with attention to detail. Skilled communicator on all levels who can communicate complex issues to our internal and external stakeholders.  2. Work as a goal-oriented team player who can pay close attention to detail while multi-tasking. 3. Evidence of high-level organizational and analytical skills, and ability to manage and coordinate a number of projects and tasks simultaneously.  4. Knowledge of charter schools and the charter movement. Note - This position will be located in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area and will support charter schools in that area.   Minimum Requirements Bachelor’s Degree Excellent verbal and written communication skills Proficiency in using all of MS Office products and various Internet-based research tools Preferred Qualifications Three or more years of professional experience in education or organizing preferred. Demonstrated ability to identify target audiences and effectively recruit support, share understandings, and provide education for a common cause. Experience in creating and implementing grassroots campaigns through skilled organizing preferred. Spanish-speaking ability a plus Bachelor degree preferred Citizenship, residency or work visa required