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PARTNER, SCHOOL DESIGN SERVICES
Role Type: Full-time
Title: Partner, School Design Services
Location/Travel: ~30-35% time. Willingness to travel approximately 2x per month for 2-3 days depending on the location and duration of trips.
Who We Are
Transcend’s mission is to support communities to create and spread extraordinary, equitable learning environments. Founded in 2015, Transcend has partnered with over 390 schools/partners which collectively serve thousands of students in over 30 states across the country. As a research and development (R&D) hub for the education field, Transcend provides schools and systems with research-backed, community-driven models and capacity so they can make significant leaps to reimagine the future of education. Transcend is a nonprofit that operates with a fully remote, nationwide team; currently with 120+ teammates and growing. For more information, visit our website; follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter, check out this podcast featuring our two co-founders on Class Disrupted, or read this recent article that illuminates the need for this work.
The Opportunity:
In increasingly large numbers, communities across the nation are recognizing the limitations and profound inequities of the 100+ year-old, one-size-fits-all industrial design of school. The compounding crises of the past couple of years have revealed the need for reinvention toward extraordinary, equitable learning environments that enable all young people to thrive. As a result, Transcend is partnering with more and more communities to support their work to redesign school.
The Partner, School Design Services role guides school design teams, in partnership with their learning communities, to design, build, and spread innovative school models. Specifically, Partners on our School Design Services team coach and support school design teams to:
- Reimagine and create new school model designs grounded in their unique community’s context and aspirations
- Build the conditions for innovation in their school communities, including the capacity to do ongoing, applied research & design in their context. Learn more about our community-based design approach here!
- Help create the networks and partnerships schools need for their innovation efforts to take root and thrive
Working in portfolio teams, the Partner, School Design uses various methods to achieve these aims, including facilitation of in-person and virtual workshops, 1:1 coaching (virtual and in-person), hands-on instructional and new model design work, resource creation and sharing, and forging connections to support the work.
Below are sample portfolios/projects to help you see the work in action:
Whole Child Portfolio
Within the Whole Child Collaborative, Transcend supports three cohorts of elementary schools in DCPS, one cohort in Aldine TX, and two additional schools in Tennessee and Texas in their efforts to adopt the Whole Child model. To learn more about the work of our Whole Child Model, check out this feature of Van Ness Elementary School in Washington, D.C.
Postsecondary Pathways Portfolio
The Postsecondary Pathways Portfolio aims to revolutionize the high school experience, empowering all students across the country with the experience, knowledge, ability, and access necessary to navigate diverse postsecondary options aligned with their unique needs and aspirations. Through direct community partnerships focusing on redesign, we can create equitable experiences and outcomes for all high school students.
Pathfinders Portfolio
Pathfinders is charged with supporting communities across the country to start and sustain design journeys that ultimately contribute to leaps towards equitable, extraordinary learning. The portfolio is dedicated to launching design journeys at any stage, and with defined resources ensuring that every path young people take through our collaboration empowers them to define the life they want to live. Whether we’re building on familiar experiences or exploring new territory, we transcend all barriers to create impactful and transformative outcomes for all.
New Partners will likely work on projects within their home-base Portfolio for the first one to two years (if not more). We will explore Portfolio match and team alignment more closely and share more specifics about each opportunity in the hiring process.
Who You Are:
You are a facilitator, instructional designer, and coach who believes deeply that we must redesign school as we know it, to truly achieve the outcomes we know all students deserve, and to prepare young people to thrive now and into the future. You are relationship-driven in your work and energized by coaching others to achieve excellent outcomes for students. You are able to build relationships quickly and thoughtfully and recognize the importance of elevating a whole community’s voice in the redesign process. You are excited about partnering with school and community stakeholders to bring ambitious new school designs to life.
In this role, you will get to:
- Coach: Advance the school team’s conditions for change, and build capacity in others to bring new school designs to life
- Create Content: Develop the teams’ capacity to design and build school schedules, curriculum, instructional practices, PD, etc., in alignment with their school blueprints, research, and best practice
- Facilitate rigorous research and development (R&D): Help teams pilot their innovations throughout the year: from setting up effective pilot structures, implementing pilots, and summarizing their learning to inform their overall design and next steps
- Lead Strategic Implementation of New School Designs: Guide and support schools in building and adapting the school elements needed to bring their designs to life
And in doing so, leverage your:
- Commitment to Transcend’s mission of transforming education, with a passion for creating innovative school models that generate unprecedented results for all students
- Strong and demonstrated commitment to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion. You design, coach, and facilitate with an equity lens
- Skillful relationship building and communication skills, working with a diverse range of stakeholders, including school partners, teammates, funders, research partners, etc
- Outstanding project management and organizational skills that allow you to gather and organize multiple work streams and logistics efficiently
- Stewardship of a healthy team culture, and eagerness to share and learn from your teammates
- Eagerness to live into Transcend’s core values and support others to do the same
- Significant experience leading in schools, preferably with experience working as a former school Principal, and with direct experience with design, innovation, 21st century skills, change management and/or “next generation” school models
- Entrepreneurial hunger to build, learn, and lead in a lean and at times ambiguous context
Perks and Benefits:
Transcend is committed to providing our colleagues with a competitive benefits package. Transcend offers medical, dental and vision coverage options, org-wide holidays, paid time off, paid parental leave, professional development opportunities, and fully remote work. We're also proud of our values-grounded, equity-focused, and fun (!) work environment, incredible colleagues, and a dedication to our purposeful work and to one another.
Join Us!
Transcend is an equal opportunity employer. We are building a diverse team, and we encourage candidates from historically under-represented groups to apply.
