Director of Adult Education

Position Summary

The Executive Director (ED) serves as a member of the senior leadership team within the Mayor’s Office of Education, reporting to the Deputy Chief Education Officer. As a member of the leadership team, the ED will be responsible for participating in all education-related Mayoral initiatives as they intersect with adult education. The ED is responsible for effective planning, management, and administration of adult education initiatives. Responsibilities include project planning, financial and grant management, compliance with funding requirements, and development, implementation and monitoring of adult education initiatives. The successful candidate will possess strong organizational, managerial, project management, financial and collaborative skills, and develop and implement long-term strategies to achieve the Division’s mission and goals. The ED will manage a team of five staff with two reporting directly to the ED. Direct reports are the Senior Manager of Providers and the Senior Manager of Professional Development & Training.

Essential Functions

The ideal candidate will have a track record of effectively leading performance-based and outcome-based programs. They will have developed and implemented strategies that have taken a program or organization to the next stage of growth; the ability to develop and foster strong partner relationships; and be an exceptional relationship-builder.

Strategic Coherence

• Develop and implement long-term strategies to achieve the mission and goals for Adult Education program to meet the needs of Philadelphia adult learners.
• Develop policies and procedures, including identifying systems for efficient program administration, record-keeping, data management, financial management, grant management, and reporting to make data-driven decisions to continuously improve program effectiveness and student outcomes.
• Strategic development, implementation and alignment within adult education, workforce, and digital literacy landscapes, integrating within complimentary systems.
• Ability to leverage existing investments, programs, and organizations in supporting this work.
• Maintain an understanding of current implementation challenges and developing comprehensive solutions to address them.
• Able to synthesize multiple perspectives and strategies into a cohesive product that operationalizes and leads to development.
• Ability to coordinate research and other activities with initiative partners to minimize redundancies and to align strategies and actions, including conducting individual outreach and education as needed.
• Act as a thought leader within the adult education and training community in Philadelphia.

Partnership Development

• Maintain current and develop new effective programmatic partnerships and referral networks.
• Maintain working partnerships with local Title II adult literacy providers, Philadelphia Works, Inc., various City departments (e.g., Parks & Recreation, the Free Library, and Commerce), City Council, State and National stakeholders and other adult education, digital literacy, and workforce entities.
• Able to work with all levels of partner organizations to move the work.
• Work with providers and existing network of literacy providers.
• Serve as a liaison between the literacy community and city agencies.

Program Management

• Oversee daily operations and establish and maintain appropriate systems for measuring necessary aspects of operational management.
• Monitor and report on programmatic issues, opportunities, and achievements within agreed formats and timelines.
• Communicate the objectives to the community and potential partners, including sharing the strategic plan or other collateral.
• Facilitate communication between partners by hosting regular conference calls, in-person meetings, or coordinating regular email updates to ensure alignment of activity.
• Identify improvements in use of data-driven decision-making and ensuring that data is collected, integrated, and communicated effectively across the organization. · Ensuring all partners are aware of targets and indicators.
• Oversee data collection, analysis, and reporting in collaboration with the Performance Management and Technology (PMT) of OCF.
•  Manage the creation of yearly summary reports of progress for internal and external audiences

Team Management

• Provide direct supervision and coaching to staff.
• Responsible for hiring, conducting performance evaluations, and developing corrective action related to performance of employees.
• Establish, facilitate, and execute effective and open communication with staff, particularly related to internal decisions and strategy.
• Foster a positive and collaborative work environment that supports staff growth and engagement through teamwork, excellence, innovation, and collaboration. Set clear expectations and goals for the team and ensure their successful implementation.

Fiscal Management

• Manage a budget of $2M+ includes budget preparation and expenditure tracking.
• Identify new programmatic needs and funding opportunities.
• Assist in preparing grant requests, RFPs, and contracts.
• Review and approve invoices.

Collaboration

• Serve a part of MOE Senior Leadership team.
• Contribute to planning and execution of department wide programs and activities.
• Participate in activities and events that advance Mayor’s education priorities.

Other Functions:

• As assigned by Deputy Chief Education Officer of Chief Education officer.

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Ability to lead in a large and complex organization

Can manage up and down, capable of aligning program goals with City priorities.

Ability to work within budget.

Ability to effectively collaborate with colleagues in the Mayor’s Office and across the City.

Can comfortably manage uncertainty.

Process Management
Ability to understand, create and implement project workflows.

Effective management of staff and vendors through complex systems.

Comfort level with evidence-based practices, ability to establish meaningful outcomes measures to drive program success.

Strategic Agility
Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately;

Has broad knowledge and perspective;

Can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.

Can see opportunities for synergy and integration.

Building Effective Teams
Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in his/her team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.