Executive Director of Innovations bei The School District of Philadelphia

Title: Executive Director

Reports To: Assistant Superintendent

The School District of Philadelphia is committed to becoming the fastest improving District in the country and transforming the educational opportunities it offers to our city’s more than 200,000 students. The District seeks leaders who have a passion for working with schools and communities who are committed to ensuring all students achieve. Serving a population as diverse as ours requires creativity, commitment and vision. Will you join us? 

Job Summary 

The role of the Executive Director of the Innovation Office is to help implement The School District of Philadelphia’s overall strategic management goal – creating an aligned organization capable of supporting a high-performing portfolio of schools, which meet the needs of all students. The work of the Executive Director will touch on all of the core components of innovation and scaling, including: the creation of the space and capacity to promote innovation at the school level; managing the warehousing and push-and-pull distribution of knowledge related to innovative, evidence-based good practice in school educational delivery and operations; and, facilitating the cross-pollination and sharing of evidence-based, innovative practices among schools and school clusters. 

Essential Functions 

• Leads and manages the Innovation Office. 

• Designs the strategic plan to move the vision for transforming low performing schools to successful implementation. 

• Manages the District’s “transformation RFP” process that will enable the design and management of some of the District’s lowest-performing schools to be transformed by groups of individuals in schools and the community with a strong, evidence-based plan and a track record of successful school transformation. 

• Develops and manages research of innovative practices to identify those with significant impact on student outcomes. 

• Develops, plans and supports the implementation of policies to create an environment that allows for innovation. 

• Tests and expands the implementation of innovative school design to more effectively, reliably, and efficiently increase student and school success.  

• Works collaboratively with multiple offices and divisions to support the development and scaling of innovative practice. 

• Reviews and analyzes assessment data in conjunction with the Office of Strategic Analytics to monitor progress and identify the next schools and programs to target for transformation.

• Supports the District in establishing innovation and scaling goals, designing implementation plans, and putting in place protocols and tools to help monitor progress on key initiatives.

• Works collaboratively to achieve the goals, objectives and priorities of the office in conjunction with other offices in the District and in line with the District’s other strategic priorities.

• Develops and manages research of innovative practices to identify those with significant impact on student outcomes. 

• Establishes protocols and tools to help monitor progress on establishing, implementing and scaling innovation goals.

• Solicits and incorporates input and feedback from the senior leadership team to guide the work of the Innovation Office.

Minimum Requirements 

• Master’s degree in a related field from an accredited college or university. 

• Five years of full-time, paid, professional experience in innovation, knowledge management, education or a related field. 

Knowledge and Abilities 

Demonstrated knowledge of: 

o National and international educational innovation theories and practices.

o Current principles, practices and procedures to create educational transformation.

o Organizational development. 

o Supervisory methods and techniques. 

o Processes and techniques to create system change. 

o Creative problem-solving techniques. 

Demonstrated ability to: 

o Work on multiple projects simultaneously, as evidenced by an ability to balance and prioritize multiple competing priorities. 

o Build and maintain strong, effective working relationships across all levels of an organization. 

o Identify and break down complex problems and develop strategies to address the identified issues based on quantitative and/or qualitative evidence. 

o Understand, interpret, and analyze a variety of data sources. 

o Design and develop systems, tools, and schedules for collecting, maintaining, and reporting on evidence-based, innovative practices. 

o Adapt to different situations, particularly when new information is provided. o Communicate in a clear and concise manner, both orally and in writing. 

o Use MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint 

Disclaimer 

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being  performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive  list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. 

Nondiscrimination 

The School District of Philadelphia provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants  for employment without regard to race, color, age, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ancestry, national  origin, disability, pregnancy, marital status, gender identity, or genetic information. Please refer to Board  Policy 348 for further information regarding the District's commitment to Nondiscrimination in Employment  Practices.