Assistant Director of College Access and Support (NY) - Excellence Community Schools

Who We Are

Excellence Community Schools is a charter management, non-profit organization. The mission of the Excellence Community Schools is to prepare young people to compete for admission to and succeed in top public, private, and parochial high schools by cultivating their intellectual, artistic, social, and emotional, and ethical development through the Bronx Charter School for Excellence (Bronx Excellence) and the Stamford Charter School for Excellence (Stamford Excellence). Our network of schools accomplishes this by offering a challenging and rigorous academic curriculum - which at the earliest of grades, has an eye towards college preparation. We achieve this in a supportive and caring environment that always has high expectations of our students.

Who We Need

We seek dedicated, ambitious, and committed individuals to student success and education reform. Qualified candidates must demonstrate records of achievement, high degrees of personal responsibility, and the drive to do whatever it takes to ensure that every child achieves academic success. This individual must be committed to excellence, lead by example, and see collaboration as a key component of success.

Job Overview

The mission of the Student Advancement department is twofold. First, it exists to support our students’ transition to the best possible high placement options that will aid in their progression towards college graduation and career readiness. Second, the department provides an array of services that support ECS alumni while they are in high school and college. These services include high school success counseling, enrichment and internship program placement, and job and career advising. This multivariate approach focuses on the development of the whole child, prioritizes empowering our families through access to information and exposure, and targets transforming the communities of our students’ upbringing.  

 The Assistant Director of College Access and Support reports to the Managing Director of Student Advancement. The successful candidate will liaise with the Directors of High School Success and College Success, respectively. They will support the team in providing direct services to our alumni to ensure their success on varied paths to excellence beyond graduation from an Excellence Community school.

Responsibilities

• Works with the Managing Director of Student Advancement and the Director of High School Success to build a comprehensive college access program
• Works with the Managing Director of Student Advancement and the Director of College Success to build a comprehensive college support program
• Responsible for the development, implementation, and refinement of the College Access activities, including the creation of curricular materials (e.g., scope and sequence, lesson plans, etc.) for the grade-level college prep courses.
• Establishes protocols for the college access counseling/advising
• Cultivates different partnerships to expand the learning opportunities and college & career exposure of Excellence alumni
• Collects, analyzes, and uses program data (e.g. stakeholder feedback, student progress reports, etc.) to inform program development and enhancements.
• Maintains a student caseload for college counseling and advisement.
• Maintains student records and connects with families through various forms of communication including phone calls
• Engage with alumni on high school and college campuses.
• Partner with alumni, their families, and college advising offices to ensure alumni are on track to attend a best fit college

• Collaborates with colleagues on implementing roadmaps that include clear milestones, work streams, and owners.
• Identifies, recommends, and implements changes to programs and practices to improve workflows.
• Creates and maintains up-to-date documentation of programs and practices.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree and three years of related experience required (or equivalent combination of education and experience).
• Experience with college counseling/advisement, and youth program development required.
• Demonstrated organizational, interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to clearly articulate persuasive arguments in writing and orally to motivate and influence people; and to exercise sound professional judgement in all interactions.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively and productively contribute to a coherent organization culture as well as to a leadership team focused on deepening programmatic impact.
• Demonstrated effective program development and management skills, including ability to be flexible, to manage multiple projects as well as to prioritize competing and shifting demands/needs of stakeholders in a highly collaborative environment.
• Consistently strong track-record of reliably creating effective and accurate deliverables/work products in timely fashion to meet deadlines.
• Well-developed collaborative skills, as evidenced by the ability to work as part of a team with a strong initiative to drive forward project goals that are data-informed.
• A passionate commitment to expanding opportunities, particularly college access, and persistence, for first-generation college-bound students from low income communities, as well as students of color.
• Ability to leverage a data-driven approach to problem-solve with a results-orientation across programming effectively.
• Driver’s license and access to a vehicle for alumni college and high school visits

*Must be able to work evenings and weekends when alumni are attending programs and for special events*

**Applications submitted without a resume and cover letter will not be considered**

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in education or social work preferred.
• Demonstrated understanding of various schooling options in NYC and youth development landscape, especially in the area of after-school and expanded learning opportunities for college access and persistence preferred.
• Experience with academic planning, college counseling, teaching and tutoring of middle school, high school youth, and re-entry students preferred.
• Spanish fluency (written and oral) preferred.
• Bangla fluency (written and oral) preferred.

Benefits

• Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. Salary range $60,000-$75,000.
• Health Insurance, dental, vision & 403b Retirement Plan
• Paid Time Off/Paid Sick Leave/Parental Leave/FMLA
• Short-term, Long-term Disability benefits and Life Insurance