Senior Program Associate (Travel up to 75%)

About WestEd

As a community of over 1,400 researchers, practitioners, consultants, and administrative professionals from all backgrounds and life experiences, we are committed to making a qualitative difference in the lives of youth, children, and adults. We conduct and apply research, develop evidence-based solutions, and provide consulting services across the country in both rural and urban communities to improve equitable outcomes for individuals from infancy through adulthood. Serving as trusted partners in the areas of education, health, and justice, our teams enhance capacity within communities and school districts to prioritize impact - asking the right questions, customizing methodologies, developing relevant tools, and implementing best practices specific to a diverse range of stakeholder needs.

WestEd supports individual initiative, excellence, and hard work of all individuals in our hiring and work practices. WestEd complies with all applicable federal and state anti-discrimination laws, as well as OFCCP requirements. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, or status as a protected veteran.

SPECIAL NOTICE REGARDING THE WORK LOCATION OF THIS POSITION-Although WestEd provides the option of working at one of its facilities for employees, many roles allow employees to choose to work remotely for their own convenience. The decision to allow remote work at the employee's convenience is based on the requirements of the position or project in question.

Position Description

We are seeking a highly motivated, client-oriented professional with significant experience in Multi-Tiered System of Supports and Inclusive Practices. The ideal candidate will be an expert at providing technical assistance to clients and possess the ability to collaborate with colleagues across special and general education facets of education systems, tiered instruction and intervention, collaborative planning, co-teaching, special education referral and placement, individual education program (IEP) writing and meeting facilitation, and systems administration and oversight.

This position will primarily support local educational agencies (LEAs) projects by contributing to technical assistance, professional development, review, and other client needs. We value both hands-on experience and fresh, innovative approaches to systems alignment, continuous improvement, and increasing inclusive mindsets.

Position Description

This position will develop, facilitate, and support educational system improvement at all levels focused on improved outcomes for students. You will have the opportunity to work alongside teachers, coaches, general education, and special education district personnel to support educational improvement focused on systemic thinking and data to thoughtfully plan and implement evidenced-based improvements.

Serving as a core member of the MTSS team you will advance WestEd's commitment to excellence by ensuring your work in instructional coaching, professional development, meeting facilitation, tool development, and project management. You will also utilize your content expertise in the development of proposals to expand this important work across the country.

Training and Technical Assistance Provider (75%)

• Design and provide effective professional development and coaching with district and school leaders, faculty, and educational staff to support improvement of teaching and learning practices for all students.
• Design and provide institutes or academies for school and district teams to address school/district improvement practices with a focus on improving outcomes for students with and without disabilities within the overall school improvement context.
• Provide technical assistance and coordination for state and school districts' improvement efforts.
• Collaborate with a team of professional development providers to analyze district and school context, including system and staff strengths and needs to plan services that include professional development, coaching, consulting and other needed supportstoalign with the local plan.

Educational Systems Improvement Facilitation (20%)

• Demonstrated ability to lead districts in developing, implementing, and monitoring strategic improvement plans. This includes collaborating with district and school leaders to analyze strengths and needs, co-constructing a focused strategic plan, and aligning professional development, coaching, and consultation supports to clearly defined staff and student outcome goals.
• Provide facilitation and support for data collection and analysis of district systems to identify recommendations for systemic improvement to support improved outcomes for students receiving special education services.
• Provide leadership and facilitation support for systems improvement with fidelity, sustainability, and with the focus on accelerating the performance of all students toward proficiency.
• Ability to effectively coach all levels of leadership through culture shifts, collaborative team building, and creating inclusive mindsets.
• Ability to anticipate needs across district, site, and classroom-based roles within a school system, when creating alignment to specific student outcomes.

Proposal and Resource Development (5%)

• Contribute to the creation of proposals and outreach that result in growth of WestEd services.

What We're Looking For

• Master's, Doctorate or other advanced degree in special education, education, or a closely related field.
• Five-year's experience as an interventionist, special education director/leader in a medium to large school district.
• Five-year's experience as a special educator or related service provider.
• A minimum of two-years' experience in the provision of effective professional development and job-embedded coaching for diverse groups that include general educators, special educators, and English learner support staff.
• Experience with State Standards and evidenced-based practices for students with disabilities, learner variability, tiered interventions and supports, data-based decision-making and other special populations including English learners, children from culturally diverse backgrounds, and other special needs.
• High level of experience in providing professional development and job-embedded coaching in evidence-based practices/interventions to accelerate achievement for diverse student populations in reading, mathematics, and behavior.
• Strong ability to provide professional development in areas of inclusive instructional practices, including co-teaching and collaborative special education supports within the core content, MTSS, inclusive practices, universal design for learning (UDL), and PBIS.

Other skills, abilities, and experiences of interest

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• High level of organizational and time management skills.
• Independence with monitoring calendar and collaborating virtually and in-person.
• Ability to co-design learning experiences for a wide range of district staff members.
• Ability and willingness to work on a team.
• Understanding of lesson studies, lesson tuning protocols, instructional rounds, and other highly interactive forms of professional development.
• Dynamic presentation, facilitation, and coaching skills.
• Ability to facilitate and bring to consensus to diverse groups of stakeholders.
• Effective building and nurturing of professional relationships in and outside of the organization.
• Commitment to inclusion of diverse populations in school reform and improvement.
• Commitment to ensuring high quality products and customer service.
• Ability to handle multiple priorities under time-restricted conditions.
• Ability to run virtual meetings and presentations with large and small groups of educators.
• Necessary application skills: Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Google Suite, and Box Shared Drive.
• Ability to travel extensively within the U.S. (up to 75%).

*Note: Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. Successful candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.

WestEd conducts a criminal background check and education verification for all new hires. Any offers of employment will be contingent on receiving a clear background check in accordance with applicable law.

SALARY AND BENEFITS:

The full salary range for this position, WestEd level (11), is $106,000 to $165,000, but WestEd does not typically hire at or near the top of the salary range. The typical hiring range for this role is $106,000 to $132,500. The actual offer considers multiple factors, including but not limited to education, experience, internal equity, and other organizational needs.

In addition to the base salary, benefits include:

* 15% contribution toward retirement effective day 1 of employment and immediately 100% vested

* Pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Account option

* All health/welfare benefits are effective the first of the month following the hire date

* PTO: 19 days (increases to 21 days beginning the third year of employment), 12 paid holidays

* Life Insurance: value of 3x gross salary, max of 500k

* Opportunities for annual merit-based performance increases + annual incentives

* Professional development opportunities & mentorship program

For more details about our benefits, go to: https://www.wested.org/work-at-wested/#benefits

WestEd is a Drug Free Employer and maintains a drug-free workplace. #LI-Remote #Circa-ALLSTATES

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)