Academics Practice Lead, Impact Team

CSGF’s Impact Team is looking for someone who is uniquely powerful at: Driving transformational academic experiences and success for K-12 students “Cutting through the noise” by spotlighting the practices, people and powerful lessons that spark learning Nurturing thriving communities of practice that sustain leaders and make organizations better Working alongside academic leaders to test/innovate new solutions to common challenges Do you have a track record of success and a passion for those four things? Please read on.

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Academics Practice Lead will look across the CSGF portfolio and the sector to identify, codify and spread what’s working through data and insights; invest in resources to accelerate implementation of effective strategies that result in lasting academic improvement and student outcomes; and support communities of academic leaders as they lead/scale their organizations to deliver on their mission. This person will report to Caroline Lopez, Partner and Co-Leader of the Impact Team.

You’ll love this job if you care about questions like:

• How can CSGF help charter school networks “get better by Monday” and make new mistakes?
• How would the work of charter school networks be transformed if every 3rd grader was reading on grade level by 2028? What would it take to get there?
• How can the schools we support innovate by leveraging AI, testing new talent models, and expanding student options meaningfully across the K12 to college and career continuum – while harnessing the most proven, enduring strategies to drive academic results? 

A typical day for you might look like:

• Connecting on Zoom or visiting in person with a few academic leaders from across the country to learn what they’re working on, what they’re excited about, and the challenges they’re facing 
• Sharing curated resources like job descriptions or convening materials with a new Chief Academic Officer to help map their first 90 days and opportunities within their organization
• Collaborating with CSGF colleagues to produce a new data benchmarking tool – figuring out the right way to present data to make it actionable and the insights that will drive practice
• Writing a new “just-in-time” blog post spotlighting artifacts and tools from across the portfolio and sector that you know principal managers will be looking for based on the arc of the year
• Providing targeted expertise for CSGF colleagues who are evaluating an investment in a new EdTech literacy tool and want to understand its use case and value-add for charter schools
• Engaging with leaders and ecosystem partners to explore math bright spots where students are achieving exemplary results, then strategizing how to scale and spread solutions for the portfolio
• Working with content experts on session design for 60 Chief Academic Officers who will attend your upcoming Academics Convening in Colorado 

THE ORGANIZATION

The Charter School Growth Fund (CSGF) is a leading nonprofit venture philanthropy fund dedicated to identifying the nation’s best public charter schools, investing in their expansion, and helping to increase their impact. Our “portfolio” includes 200+ charter school networks that operate 17,000+ schools and serve more than 725,000 students. We are committed to expanding the impact of schools that are closing achievement and opportunity gaps. CSGF operates with the same strategies, discipline, and focus as a venture capital firm by awarding multi-year grants and loans to talented education entrepreneurs building networks of high-quality charter schools that enroll traditionally underserved students. Ultimately, we think the portfolio can grow to serve ~1,000,000 students within a decade.

This is an exciting time to join the Charter School Growth Fund. We recently launched a new philanthropic fund, building on our 15-year track record of success. CSGF’s new five-year “Fund IV” is larger in size and scope than previous funds, with a goal to continue to fuel charter sector growth, accelerate innovation, and strengthen long-term outcomes for students, particularly students of color and those from low-income backgrounds. Our new fund will continue to prioritize investments in leaders of color as our current portfolio is led by more than 50% leaders of color and more than 50% female leaders. We believe it is vital for the networks we support to be proximate to the lived experiences of the students and communities they serve.

THE IMPACT TEAM 

The Impact Team at CSGF exists to help the leaders and schools in our portfolio grow with quality and transform the K12 sector as a whole across our six main practice areas: Academics, CEO Leadership, Character, College Access & Alumni Success, Operations & Enrollment, and Talent & Equity. We focus on four main strategies:

• COMMUNITY AND SHARED LEARNING: We build thriving, caring communities of practice and foster catalytic collaboration across our sector.  In 2023, CSGF engaged with 1,800+ leaders through 20+ communities and events. See the SY 2023-2024 overview for recent opportunities.
• INSIGHTS: We unlock and produce powerful insights alongside operators that can’t be found anywhere else. See Stories and Lessons from Our Schools for some examples.
• INVESTMENT: We invest flexible capital to solve common challenges for our portfolio and innovate new strategies. Our team currently manages a $40M+ investment fund for Fund IV.
• GO DEEP: We focus our flywheel (community, insight, investment) on a few unique, strategic areas where our portfolio can drive sector-wide, game-changing impact – for example, Early Literacy and Postsecondary Success.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE ACADEMICS PRACTICE LEAD

• STRATEGY AND EXECUTION: Set the vision and strategy for CSGF’s academic practice and directly inform CSGF’s strategy as a whole. Use experience, research and deep knowledge of the CSGF portfolio and broader K12 sector to identify where we can play a unique role in creating maximum value and impact. Ultimately accountable for the alignment of resources, people and energy to execute, driving meaningful results, and quick learning and adaptation while doing so.
• COMMUNITY AND SHARED LEARNING: Build trusting relationships with academic leaders and principal managers in the CSGF portfolio and the broader sector in order to highlight best practices and identify common challenges. Lead communities of practice and plan convenings and other events where leaders share and learn from one another in powerful ways.
• INSIGHTS: Spotlight and share best-in-class practices and innovations that make public charter schools better at supporting student learning and driving long-term outcomes. Leverage portfolio-wide data in order to produce benchmarking projects that help the sector understand important and emerging trends and/or inform actionable strategies.
• INVESTMENTS: Independently identify and invest in ideas that will accelerate portfolio growth and performance by scaling what works and by piloting innovations on the frontier.
• “IN-HOUSE COUNSEL” AND COLLABORATION: Partner with other teams and individuals across CSGF to inform, enhance and align cross-org portfolio support strategies and CSGF-wide goals related to academic improvement and innovation.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Skills and Characteristics

• Deep commitment to CSGF’s mission and a passion for supporting entrepreneurs of color
• Nuanced understanding of academics, instruction and/or school management, with the ability to create, codify and disseminate effective or emerging practices as well as lessons learned 
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, particularly the ability to build strong relationships with diverse groups of internal and external stakeholders
• Entrepreneurial mindset, bringing creativity, innovation and flexibility to all projects
• Strategic thinking and analytical skills, including demonstrated ability to lead strategies and problem solve effectively to achieve goals 
• Strong project and time management experience that drives efficiency and excellence, managing multiple, concurrent projects with sometimes competing deadlines 
• Ability to shift seamlessly between complex, high-level strategy and detail-oriented work
• Willingness to travel frequently (~30%)

Educational Background and Work Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 10+ years of executive-level leadership in academics and/or school or principal management
• Experience with charter schools is a plus
• Experience as a school principal is a plus

COMPENSATION

Compensation is commensurate with experience and education. CSGF seeks either a Vice President or a Managing Director and Academic Practice Lead, Impact Team. The final title and corresponding salary range will be determined based on the previous scope, tenure, and seniority level of experience of the candidate hired as it correlates to CSGF’s competency matrix. The target salary range for this role if hired at the Vice President level is $140,000-$160,000 annually. The target salary range for this role if hired at the Managing Director level is $175,000-$225,000 annually. CSGF offers a very competitive package of benefits, including: health, life, disability and dental insurance coverage; vacation/holidays and parental leave; and participation in CSGF’s 403(b) plan. Candidates must have permanent authorization to work in the US.

START DATE

CSGF is seeking candidates who can start as soon as possible.

WORKING AT CSGF 

We are focused on hiring and developing great people and believe that building diverse perspectives  across our team make us more effective in expanding our impact. (This is reflected in Our Commitment to Diversity Statement.) Our core values are: 

Results

• We believe that student success is the ultimate measure of our performance.
• We work with urgency and intentionality for the portfolio and their schools. 
• We hold ourselves accountable to strong outcomes.
• We relentlessly prioritize our resources to drive positive, measurable, attributable impact for the charter leaders, their schools, and ultimately students.
• We believe strong results come from good decisions, and the best decisions are made when we use data - both quantitative and qualitative - and gather input from diverse perspectives, especially those most impacted by the work.  
• We celebrate our wins and learn from our losses.

Teamwork

• We value organization over team, and we value team over individual.
• We actively break down silos and collaborate across teams.
• We believe building strong, healthy relationships is critical to move our work forward.
• We seek to proactively communicate across teams to strengthen our outcomes and add value for the portfolio.

Integrity

• We believe that trust is our most important asset, and we must earn and maintain the trust of the portfolio member leaders, investors, and our team to achieve our goals.
• We are often entrusted with sensitive and confidential information about the portfolio - we do not ever violate these confidences.
• We show ownership for our successes and our failures. 
• We speak directly to the person, even when it's messy and hard, and get ahead of potential problems.
• We do the right thing, even when no one is watching.

Respect 

• We understand and acknowledge our place in the value chain – the students, teachers, principals and other leaders at portfolio networks are doing the hardest, direct and most impactful work in their schools each day.
• We prioritize humility and embrace getting better every day.
• We are curious and open-minded.
• We are aware of our own biases and how they might affect our judgment, and we take ownership to mitigate their impact.

Entrepreneurship

• We take calculated risks, looking for new ways to add value and improve how we work.
• We are problem solvers in all aspects of our work.
• We actively connect people and ideas in strategic ways to foster new ideas and learning. 
• We acknowledge not all investments will succeed and embrace failure as it facilitates deeper learning for our organization and the portfolio.

E-VERIFY STATEMENT

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you. Including terminating employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the I-9 form.

Charter School Growth Fund provides equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees.