PARTNER, SCHOOL DESIGN SERVICES - WHOLE CHILD

Start Date: Immediate

Role Type: Full time

Title: Partner, School Design Services

Location: Flexible and given the role requires frequent travel to our primary locations in Washington, D.C. and Texas, we prioritize candidates who are geographically close to these locations or demonstrate a strong willingness to travel.

Travel: ~30-35% time. Willingness to travel approximately 2-3x per month for 2-3 days depending on the location and duration of trips. Some months will have more trips and others will have less.

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 - Whole Child works to support schools adopt the Whole Child Model, an innovative school model that was developed through a partnership between Transcend and Van Ness Elementary, A District of Columbia Public School, and is being embraced by schools across the country. The Whole Child Model centers students' socio-emotional growth into everything a school does and is rooted in an understanding that children's academic success is inextricably linked to their overall well-being.

We are looking to hire two Partners, School Design Services to support the Whole Child Team and support across the following aspects of the work:

Demonstration Site Strategy
Design and Facilitation Coach

Demonstration Site Strategy Context

In this role, you will be leading our demonstration site strategy and supporting and coaching our demonstration site school partners. Transcend currently has four Whole Child Model demonstration sites in DC that show what the model looks like in action and inspire educators, funders, policymakers, and prospective partners and build clarity about what it takes to create this type of learning environment. In this role, you will not only support our current demonstration site partners, you will also refine our definition of demonstration sites and create and implement a strategy for developing new demonstration sites and for hosting experiences that build a pipeline and conditions for expanding our model.

Design and Facilitation Coach Context

In this role, you will be coaching school teams and designing and delivering both in-person and virtual workshops to equip school teams with the knowledge and tools needed to implement this model. You'll contribute to creating resources like toolkits, video examples, and facilitation guides that will empower schools to confidently adopt and sustain the model. And lastly, you'll be guiding school design teams to:

Develop a vision for Whole Child work in their context, including understanding how this vision may be in tension with some traditional school practices
Understand their current conditions, including strengths and key areas for growth as they begin their design journey
Set goals and create & execute plans to incorporate Whole Child Model practices into their approach
Build habits and routines that allow them to sustain this work with increasing independence over time

To learn more about the roles and team, hear more from Indi Ekanayake (he/him), Partner on the Whole Child Portfolio Team.

Who You Are:

You're about transforming education to nurture the whole child. This belief fuels your work as a facilitator, instructional designer, and coach. You envision a future where schools are redesigned to cultivate not just academic success, but the social and emotional well-being that empowers young people to thrive now and into the future. You excel at building strong, thoughtful connections and recognize the critical role of a unified community voice in shaping new learning environments. This passion for partnership extends to schools and community stakeholders, where you're excited to center the whole child.

Across both roles you will get to:

Coach: Set shared vision with school teams for the change they seek to make, advance the school team's conditions for change, and build capacity in others to bring Whole Child practices to life.
Design and facilitate group learning experiences: Design and lead in person and virtual learning experiences to help school teams learn about model practices and use design cycles to implement and refine them.
Create content: Codify core aspects of school design so that others can use them - including hiring practices, schedules, budget guidance, adult PD schedules etc.
Inspire others about the importance of Whole Child work: Design and facilitate inspiration visits that inspire educators, system leaders, policymakers, funders, and other stakeholders about what is possible and help them understand what is needed to create more school communities that center the whole child.
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.
Use learning to influence strategy: Gather evidence to understand impact of our learning experiences and use this to inform strategy about how we continue to spread the Whole Child Model in ways that are accessible to schools and lead to student-level impact.

And in doing so, leverage your:

Experience and expertise with SEL within elementary schools, with prior knowledge of the Whole Child Model preferred
Experience designing and leading professional development experiences for others
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
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
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 dedication to our purposeful work and to one another.

Join Us!

Transcend is an equal-opportunity employer. We are building a diverse team that values diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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Partner, School Design Services - Whole Child Team