Chief Of Language & Cultural Education - Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is one of the largest school districts in the United States, serving over 330,000 students in 600+ schools and employing nearly 36,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we make three commitments to our students, their families, and all Chicagoans: academic progress, financial stability, and integrity. Six core values are embedded within these commitments – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.
The Office of Language & Culture is committed to provide a high-quality education for all language learners that is attentive to a culturally and linguistically diverse community of CPS students, families, and educators. As part of this work, the Office focuses on language education that includes developing the native-language and English-language proficiency of English Learners, strengthening the English skills among native-English speakers, and providing all students with the opportunity to learn a world language.
Job Summary:
The Chief of Language & Culture Education serves the critical role of leading and managing all service and support programs that are available to students with limited English proficiency in the district. This broad portfolio will include responsibilities across the spectrum of training, compliance, coordinating and evaluating services, and giving input on new District policy. The Chief is responsible for identifying opportunities throughout the District to increase the quality of the English Learner programs.
The Chief of Language & Culture Education will be held accountable for the following responsibilities:

• Demonstrated knowledge of federal, state and local laws and policies as they relate to the delivery of EL services and programs.
• Ensuring a comprehensive curriculum is built to support EL students in acquiring academic English and that the curriculum is cross referenced to state standards and the general education curriculum.
• Developing strategies and procedures to ensure that CPS meets all state and federally-mandated reporting and accountability regulations and requirements for EL programs.
• Managing a high functioning team that is able to execute effectively and meet deadlines to assure a high quality delivery of instructional support and services for EL students, families, and communities.
• Developing and maintaining the annual department budget.
• Building effective, productive relationships with cross-functional internal leaders and key external stakeholders to inform the development and implementation of the district’s strategies for improving outcomes for EL students.
• Developing training required to support both EL program staff and general education staff to ensure they are properly prepared to instruct EL students resulting in achievement of student performance goals.
• Increasing the quality of the continuum of services for English Learner (EL) students to drive more effective instruction and improve student achievement.
• Managing the vetting of high quality instructional and intervention materials for EL students; informing the district’s framework for effective instruction and creating common tools and resources that demonstrate effective practices aligned in the framework.
• Advocating for policy changes at the district and state level that support best practices in bilingual education.
• Performs all other tasks and duties as assigned.
• Creating and implementing clear guidelines related to curriculum, instruction, assessment in order to inform all decision making and to ensure that students are provided the tools and resources they need to be successful in their language of instruction; this should include ensuring that the district’s assessment system includes assessments in the native language as well as assessments that monitor language acquisition.
• Designing support systems for EL students at all levels of the system (District, Network, and School) that includes a comprehensive progress monitoring system to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of EL programs and services and assure success.

Requirements
In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Chief of Language & Culture Education must possess the following qualifications:
Education Required:

• Master’s degree in Education or related field from an accredited college or university is required

Experience Required:

• Experience as a School Principal preferred
• Minimum of ten (10) years of Bilingual Education or English as a Second Language experience, preferably as a bilingual teacher
• Minimum of ten (10) years of relevant professional experience, including the following, is required:
• Minimum of seven (7) years of leadership experience within a complex educational organization
• Experience leading and managing teams

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Experience with analyzing research and data to make decisions in planning and implementing projects and initiatives.
• Demonstrated knowledge of state and federal EL laws and regulations.
• Strong knowledge of curriculum design and implementation in relation to literacy, second language acquisition, English as Second Language methodologies, bilingual education methodologies, and teaching literacy in the content areas.
• Strong leadership and team building skills, i.e., ability to develop high performing teams united around a clear vision for serving schools and achieving EL student success
• Commitment to continuous improvement and ability to use multiple sources of data that includes academic and language performance of EL students to inform short- and long-term decisions.
• Demonstrated expertise in EL leadership resulting in improved student achievement.
• High standards for performance and ability to maximize employee performance in collaboration with all stakeholders.
• Demonstrated understanding of the individual needs of EL students from a variety of language and cultural backgrounds.
• Demonstrated strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills required to achieve the goals of the position.
• Demonstrated expertise in leading professional development and capacity building programs and initiatives.
• A proven track record of academic success for EL students and a clear focus on academic and second language acquisition results.
• Ability to perform multi-tasks and prioritize work in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience leading and executing large-scale programs and projects.
• Demonstrated knowledge of diagnostic procedures, language development, and learning theories.
• Demonstrated expertise in customer service, consensus building, and use of problem solving skills and strong written, verbal, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills.

Benefits
Conditions of Employment
As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to:

• Be Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19 - Unless approved for a medical or religious exemption, all employees are required to be up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccinations, including boosters, and to submit proof of vaccination to the district within 30 days of hire. “Up-to-date” on vaccination is defined as being at least two weeks past all primary vaccine doses and any applicable boosters. Unvaccinated staff with an approved exemption must submit to weekly testing.
• Establish/Maintain Chicago Residency - Employees are required to live within the geographic boundaries of the City of Chicago within six months of their CPS hire date and maintain residency throughout their employment with the district. The Chicago residency requirement does not apply to temporary/part-time positions, however, all CPS employees must be residents of Illinois.