Senior Program Associate Jobs

About WestEd

As a community of over 1,000 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.

Throughout WestEd’s over 50-year history we have maintained a strong commitment to staff diversity. Individuals of different ethnicities, races, abilities, gender identities, and sexual orientations, as well as from different cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, work at all levels of the organization. We value the range of perspectives provided by this diverse workforce and the ways in which those perspectives enrich and inform our agency and the work we do. Read more about WestEd’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

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.

Brief Position Description:

WestEd seeks an experienced leader with commitment to supporting educational systems to plan, implement, and lead changes that positively affect outcomes for English Learners and Multilingual students. This leader will be prepared to immediately design, provide, and grow professional development, technical assistance, and coaching services to leaders at the school, district, and state levels to improve educational policies, programs, and opportunities for English Learners and Multilingual Learners. This leader will also support the overall business development efforts of their team by facilitating high impact projects with clients that lead to annual renewals and expanded opportunities for the delivery of WestEd services.

The candidate must have deep knowledge of English Learner research, policies, programs, and practices, with an emphasis on instructional leadership, curriculum and instruction, and expertise in designing and deploying professional development, and coaching for instructional leaders. The candidate should have experience applying systems level thinking to scaling educational initiatives in schools/organizations in the service of equity and outcomes for English Learners and Multilingual Learners.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Manage project resources (time and budget) to support completion of defined scopes of work while attending to ongoing communication among and between program staff, clients, and partner organizations.
• Participate in ongoing development, refinement, and facilitation of professional development and coaching, in-person and virtual, with state and local educational leaders.
• Serve as a thought leader and English Learner expert to contribute to WestEd’s work in this area, knowing recent research, policies and programs, and understanding trends and market opportunities.
• Develop work for self and others, serving as a project director who can successfully conceptualize high-quality implementation, and define and measure outcomes for capacity building and technical assistance work at the federal, state, and local levels
• Manage and lead projects with state and local educational agencies related to the education of English Learners and Multilingual Learners.
• Collaborate with WestEd colleagues to contribute to plans for growing new work with federal, state, local, and foundation clients, identifying new opportunities, cultivating funding sources, conceptualizing and contributing to proposal development and writing. and leveraging networks to grow new business.
• Develop and maintain relationships with clients, partners, and funders characterized by respect and trust.
• Collaborate with a team of professional development providers to analyze state, district and school needs, facilitate strategic improvement planning, and monitor implementation of policies and programs for the success of English and Multilingual Learners.

Qualifications:

• Track record of conceptualizing and writing winning proposals, including those for federal or state agencies and/or for philanthropy organizations
• Demonstrated ability to manage all aspects of projects including contracts and budgets
• Excellent collaborative skills, including the ability to problem-solve and move stakeholders to consensus on complex educational policy and practice issues
• Excellent communication skills including:
  • Strong curriculum design and facilitation skills, with deep knowledge of adult and experiential learning.

  • Powerful presentation skills (virtually and in person) and comfort with large and small groups and with diverse audiences.

  • Superior written communication skills. Experience in product development and writing for publication.

  • Experience in providing workshops, institutes, and coaching programs, and making presentations to districts, school boards, teacher leaders and community groups.
• Knowledge of Quality Teaching for English Learners (QTEL) principles, framework and professional development preferred
• Ability to travel frequently nationally (50-60% time), and work for long periods with online learning technology, including video.
• Strong curriculum design and facilitation skills, with deep knowledge of adult and experiential learning.
• Superior written communication skills. Experience in product development and writing for publication.
• Experience in providing workshops, institutes, and coaching programs, and making presentations to districts, school boards, teacher leaders and community groups.
• Established networks in the field (federal, state, local, foundation) with a willingness to draw on, cultivate, and expand relationships on behalf of WestEd
• Demonstrated ability to develop rapport with and lead mission-driven teams with both internal (staff) members and external (subcontractor and consultant) members to execute large complex projects,
• Comfortable and effective working in academic, policy and K‐12 education environments with strong interpersonal, presentation, and writing skills, including the ability to use applied research skills and produce and present complex materials clearly and effectively to educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders
• An abiding commitment to excellence, equity, and having an impact on the lives of multilingual and immigrant children, families, and communities
• Excellent organizational, administrative, managerial, and interpersonal skills
  • Demonstrated ability to develop rapport with and lead mission-driven teams with both internal (staff) members and external (subcontractor and consultant) members to execute large complex projects,
  • Demonstrated ability to manage all aspects of projects including contracts and budgets
  • Experience supervising personnel, conducting performance monitoring as well as providing coaching support and providing direct feedback to staff
• Demonstrated and recent success as an educational administrator with at least seven years of experience working at school, district, regional, and/or state education agencies (e.g., executive management of systemwide initiatives, district level administration, school administration) with a track record of developing organizational and human capacity.
• Experience supervising personnel, conducting performance monitoring as well as providing coaching support and providing direct feedback to staff
• Demonstrated success in leading improvement initiatives in schools/ Experience with urban school settings preferred.
• Deep knowledge of research, policy, and practice on effective teaching of English Learners, including systems improvement, instructional practices, leadership professional development, resource planning, and any of which have shown evidence of significant and sustained impact.
• Powerful presentation skills (virtually and in person) and comfort with large and small groups and with diverse audiences.

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

SALARY AND BENEFITS:

The full salary range for this position, WestEd level I, is $133,360 to $200,000 but WestEd does not typically hire at or near the top of the salary range. The typical hiring range for this role is $133,360 to $166,700. The actual offer takes into account multiple factors including but not limited to education; experience; internal equity, and other organizational needs.

In addition to the base salary, benefits include:

• Pre-tax Flexible Spending Accounts
• Opportunities for annual merit-based performance increases + annual incentives
• Professional development opportunities & mentorship program
• Life Insurance: value of 3x gross salary
• 15% contribution toward retirement effective day 1 of employment
• All health/welfare benefits are effective first of the month following hire date
• PTO: 3 weeks’ vacation (increases to 4 weeks beginning the 4th year of employment), paid holidays, and 12 days paid sick leave per year

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

Committed to the diversity of race, ethnicities, perspectives, and opportunities, WestEd offers a variety of social and professional learning communities, such as Employee Resource groups, the Data Intelligence, Insights, and Innovation PLC, and the WestEd Parent Community, just to name a few. We hope you’ll consider joining us to build better schools, communities, learning pathways, and more! #LI-Remote #LI-Hybrid

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)