Job description
Reports to:
Director of Evaluation and Program Improvement
The Boston Public Schools’ Office of Family and Community Advancement’s (OFCA) mission is to promote welcoming environments in BPS, build capacity for authentic engagement and support effective partnerships among students, families, schools and the community to ensure student readiness and achievement from birth to graduation. A major focus for OFCA is to strengthen district-wide and school-based ownership for the engagement of families and the community. OFCA’s work includes supporting families with information on school readiness, school choice, registration, and assignment; increasing equitable access to high quality school-based partnership opportunities; establishing strong two-way communication; building capacity for parents and educators to foster collaboration; and empowering family voice in both the district and school-based decisions and policies.
Position Overview:
The Senior Systems Manager resides in the Office of Family and Community Advancement of the Boston Public Schools, reporting to the Director of Evaluation and Program Improvement. The Senior Systems Manager will be a senior level project manager, thought partner, analyst, and collaborator across the division’s departments and the district as a whole. The Senior Systems Manager will be a utility researcher and analyst for the division, with an emphasis on leading and supporting opportunities for analysis and innovation, with at least fifty percent of their time dedicated to the Office of Welcome Services, which oversees School Choice, Registration and Assignment efforts. The remainder of the time will support projects as assigned by the Deputy Superintendent for Equity, Family and Community Advancement, or one of the Division Chiefs, in efforts to advance the mission of the Boston Public Schools.
The position requires significant cross departmental work with the offices of Technology, Multilingual and Multicultural Education, Special Education, Planning and Analysis, Capital Planning, Transportation, Expanded Learning Opportunities, and Partnerships, as well as individual schools and families. The individual must be a strategic thinker and an advisor for division leaders and the senior director for Welcome Services. The Senior Manager should be detail oriented and have strong data analysis skills. The position requires deep collaboration with the director of evaluation and program improvement, with a focus on evaluation and assessment of departmental and division progress towards Key Performance Indicators (KPI) metrics and goals.
The successful candidate must also be a skilled communicator, willing and able to engage stakeholders in planning as well as play an important role in communication efforts for the above.
The Senior Systems Manager will serve in a mid-level role within the division. He/she/they will demonstrate the ability to thrive and innovate in a demanding and high stakes environment; be flexible and adaptive; and willing to play a variety of roles to ensure team success.
Responsibilities:
Data and General Operations (65%)
- Co-lead with members of OIIT, efforts to improve or develop school choice tools for the district in ways that improve user experience in terms of technical access (mobile user experience), language access, and intuitiveness and ability to navigate, sort and rank choices, as well as pre-register for school and schedule appointments to fully complete the registration process.
- Support division management of the evaluation of current registration practices and assignment policies; work with external parties and BPS departments to conduct community engagement regarding opportunities for policy improvements, to include Exam School Admissions, Special Application Schools, and the Home Based Assignment Plan, or others as developed. X
- Collaborate with Planning and Analysis, Assignment and relevant departments to plan for appropriate programmatic capacity and improve systems for equitable access to available seats.
- Consult on timelines regarding the assignment process.
- Collaborate with teams both internal and external of the division, including the Office of Data and Accountability to identify areas within the district agenda for analysis.
- Perform various analyses on student-level, school-level, and district-level data and provide relevant policy recommendations based on analyses.
- Work closely with the director and assistant director of assignment to research, review, analyze, and report on assignment processes or other innovations of peer districts.
- Support data analytics & performance management (including data requests from internal and external partners) regarding enrollment and assignment including strengthening and staff use of the data dashboard, and development of a regular reporting cycle.
- Work with division and department leadership to engage in a continuous improvement cycle to strengthen the team’s work.
- Collaborate with the WS Systems Manager to support the school choice process for current BPS students (“Continuous Choice”) in transitional grades as necessary.
- Participate as an active member in cross-division or departmental team meetings and committees, etc.
Communications (25%)
- Represent the department in designated district and community committees and meetings to ensure an understanding of the components of the assignment or other key policies within the purview of OFCA.
- Assist with writing and updating high-quality communications to families, including but not limited to print materials, social media, and videos in collaboration with other staff and departments.
- Assist with parent outreach and inquiries in a timely manner.
- Assist with family and school focus groups to get critical feedback on the clarity and simplicity of communications and outreach efforts.
Other Tasks (10%)
- Other tasks as assigned by the supervisor.
Qualifications - Required:
- Master’s degree or commensurate experience working in data analysis, school registration or assignment in an urban educational environment
- Demonstrated ability to think strategically and problem solve
- Demonstrated ability to work cross-functionally and independently
- Strong analytic and data systems management skills, as well as extremely strong attention to detail with a consistent focus on quality
- Strong project management skills.
- Ability to interact and communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders; and experience working with diverse urban families, students and/or communities with an understanding of their unique needs and provide excellent customer service.
- Demonstrated verbal/written communication skills; effectively communicating with constituents whose primary language is not English with the ability to explain complex analytical concepts to lay persons in clear and concise easy to understand terms.
- Demonstrated inclination toward innovative solutions that improve user experiences in substantive and sustainable ways
- Strong time management skills and the ability to prioritize competing demands.
- Proficiency and/or expertise with statistical analysis software and programming languages such as SQL, Tableau, Stata and/or HTML, etc.
- Skilled in all Microsoft Office Suite programs, with particular in depth experience with Microsoft Excel and Google Apps.
- Ability to work some evenings and weekends
Qualifications - Preferred:
- Familiarity with Aspen (Boston’s Student Information System)
- Three or more years of related work experience in school choice, registration and assignment processes
- Fluency in one of BPS' official languages, especially: Spanish, Creole (Cape Verdean), Creole (Haitian), Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese, or Somali.
- A deep understanding of the city of Boston, its people, and local communities including the needs, successes, challenges, and priorities
Terms: Managerial, C43.
The Boston Public Schools, in accordance with its nondiscrimination policies, does not discriminate in its programs, facilities, or employment or educational opportunities on the basis of race, color, age, criminal record (inquiries only), disability, homelessness, sex/gender, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, genetics or military status, and does not tolerate any form of retaliation, or bias-based intimidation, threat or harassment that demeans individuals’ dignity or interferes with their ability to learn or work.
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