Program Director

I. Overview  

School Empowerment Network (SEN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers local leaders to create high-performing schools centered on proven design principles, rigorous and engaging instruction, and caring relationships between students and staff.  We are looking for an experienced school leader and coach to work with school teams  in the  Intensive School Support Program (ISSP) in Lawrence, Massachusetts.  

The ISSP program director works with school principals and their Intensive School Leadership Teams (ISLTs) to develop and implement a 3-year strategic plan focused on identified priority areas for each school. This program drives improvements in processes and systems, aiming for enhanced student achievement and sustainable school transformation.

The support structure is divided into four phases:

• Semester Zero (Launch Planning): Starting with trust-building and foundational planning, Semeste Zero includes weekly meetings with principals, monthly meetings with ISLTs, and monthly onsite visits to assess current systems and establish launch goals.
• Year One (Foundational Support): In Year One, the SEN program director works hands-on with ISLTs to build core competencies and create systems aligned to school improvement goals. The program director provides 1:1 coaching for each member, leadership of ISLT meetings, and co-planned professional development to reinforce instructional and cultural practices.
• Year Two (Facilitative Support): In Year Two, the focus shifts toward gradually transferring school improvement leadership to principals and their ISLTs. The program director provides feedback on the ISLT’s execution of systems and strategies, fostering independence while continuing targeted support.
• Year Three (Transitional Support): In Year Three, coaching frequency remains steady, but responsibility increasingly shifts to the principal and ISLT, which takes full ownership of systems and leadership. Schools in Year Three may  also serve as exemplars and demonstration sites for schools newer to the program

II. Role

The program director/coach supports multi-tiered leadership teams at schools identified as being in need of intensive support. The coach works with these teams to build, strengthen, and execute the systems needed for improvement in key priority areas. This position is ideal for a results-oriented, experienced school leader or coach who enjoys working with a variety of school-based roles (principals, team leaders, teachers, etc), and cares deeply about equitable student outcomes and education leadership development . 

III. Responsibilities

Semester  Zero (January 2025 – June 2025)

• Work with four identified schools to plan for successful program launch in fall 2025:
• Weekly 90-minute principal coaching sessions to support goal-setting, team identification, needs assessment, strategic planning, resource allocation, and planning for summer professional development and the new school year 
• Monthly 90-minute ISLT meetings to support team-building, continuous improvement processes (goal-setting, action planning, progress-monitoring, course-correcting), and summer PD planning 
• Monthly full-day onsite observations and analysis  of current systems and structures to better understand each school’s context
• Materials  support and feedback, including budget, staffing, schedule, opening and closing of school checklists,  and summer professional development plans

Years One – Three (July 2025 – June 2028) 

• Coach three ISLTs weekly to build systems that support priorities, engage in distributed leadership, and practice continuous improvement
• Provide personal leadership coaching to participating individuals (up to 24 hours per school, per month)  
• Monitor and assess team progress towards goals
• Monitor and assess participant leadership growth
• Serve as a member of the SEN leadership development team: collaborate with other program directors to troubleshoot problems of practice and improve programing  
• Participate in organization-wide meetings and planning sessions to support professional growth and to codify equitable practices across programing

IV. Competencies

• Effective coaching and professional development skills 
• Goal-setting and aligned action planning acumen
• Expertise in school-wide systems and structures for improvement 
• Deep knowledge of staff- and student-facing best practices
• Strong familiarity with principles of adult learning
• An ability to manage multiple work streams 
• Cultural literacy and a drive to dismantle racism and racist educational systems 
• Ability to analyze effectiveness of efforts and change course and approach as needed
• Strong communication and teamwork 
• A desire for ongoing feedback and development

V. Experience Requirements

• Minimum 8-10 years of experience working in schools, including 3-5 in a leadership position.  
• Experience coaching educators in school-based roles. Experience coaching principals preferred.
• Experience in K-12 settings 
• Experience working in a historically underserved community
• Track record of success working with school principals and instructional leaders in either a support or supervisory capacity
• Proximity to Lawrence, MA,  preferred

VI. Location

• Lawrence, MA/hybrid. In Semester Zero, the program director is required to be onsite approximately 4 days per month (one day per school).  In Years One – Three, the program director is required to be onsite roughly six days every month (two days per school). SEN program directors work and coach remotely when they are not onsite in schools.  
• Two retreats per year (one org-wide and one ISSP planning), held in various locations