Organization

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, the Bureau of Indian Education, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues. CCSSO seeks member consensus on major educational issues and expresses their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress, and the public.

Summary

The Strategy Team leads CCSSO's technical assistance, peer-to-peer learning and programmatic activities aligned to the organization's to support state education agencies to improve education outcomes for students in their states. As part of this work, the Strategy Team leads a portfolio designed to support states' work in teaching and learning, including The High-Quality Instructional Materials and Professional Development (IMPD) Network and Early Learning Networked Improvement Community. Levering insights from these two learning communities, CCSSO is launching a new body of work to better equip states to advance policies to increase the amount of high-quality instructional materials adopted by districts and used by teachers in early childhood education. This work is a key lever in supporting our core priority, Equity, Access and Critical Infrastructure and would enable CCSSO to provide states with access to the expertise, tools, resources and other supports necessary to build an education infrastructure that increases access to equitable learning opportunities for all students, particularly the most marginalized student populations.

The Senior Project Manager, reporting to the Senior Director, Collaboratives and partnering closely with the Senior Director, Programs, will work with the Strategy Team, external experts, and other staff at the Council to support both the IMPD Network and design and launch of a new network focused on increasing access and use of high-quality instructional materials by teachers in early childhood education.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities
Support day-to-day management of CCSSO's IMPD Network. This includes working with the Senior Director, Programs; Senior Project Manager, IMPD; Strategy Team and consulting experts to support the fourteen states engaged in the IMPD Network, including:

• Supporting the learning across states by identifying common needs and planning appropriate activities - including designing webinars, hosting cross-state consultancies, and leading semi-annual convenings;
• Supporting states directly - including through semi-annual stocktake meetings; onboarding of new states and new state team members; and addressing individual needs as required;
• Supporting CCSSO's internal project management and coordinating needs to ensure compliance and coherence across the organization - including providing day-to-day management of internal workplans and check-in agendas to track progress and ensure the team meets deadlines; reviewing and approving state grant requests; serving as an internal CCSSO liaison for teaching and learning, including with other program teams and with the communications team; and
• Supporting the work of the coaches, highly qualified consultants with extensive content, political, and strategic experience who work one-on-one with states to support strategic planning and implementation - including through monthly meetings, reporting, and individual support as required;
• Sharing the learnings more broadly across the field - including by representing CCSSO with relevant education organizations; speaking at conferences; writing and disseminating research compendia, policy briefs, and case studies; and supporting the work of our research partners;
• Other duties as assigned.

Provide day-to-day management of the PK-HQIM and Professional Development Network in partnership with the Senior Director, Collaboratives and consulting experts to design and launch a network to increase the amount of high-quality instructional materials adopted by districts and used specifically by teachers in early childhood, including:

• Building upon lessons learned from the existing IMPD Network and initiating a planning process to create the structure to support the launch of the PKHQIM and Professional Learning Network;
• Developing and implementing a process to recruit and onboard states to the Network;
• Developing and implementing a strategy to support states directly - including the development of a roadmap to guide the work;
• Supporting the recruitment, training and work of the coaches, highly qualified consultants with extensive content, political, and strategic experience who work one-on-one with states to support strategic planning and implementation - including through monthly meetings, reporting, and individual support as required;
• Supporting the learning across states by identifying common needs and planning appropriate activities - including designing webinars, hosting cross-state consultancies, and leading in person and virtual convenings; and
• Supporting internal project management and coordinating needs to ensure compliance and coherence across the organization - including providing day-to-day management of internal workplans and check-in agendas to track progress and ensure the team meets deadlines; reviewing and approving state grant requests; serving as an internal CCSSO liaison for teaching and learning and early childhood, including with other program teams and with the communications team; and
• Other duties as assigned.

Education and/or Experience

Bachelor's degree plus a minimum of seven (5) years' work experience. Eight (8) years' work experience preferred. Master degree in related field desired but not required.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Experience in project management, including developing workplans, monitoring progress against internal and external deadlines, and facilitating communication with team members.
• Experience in PK-12 education policy and/or project management at the district, state, or federal level.
• Energetic, motivated, ability to work in a team environment while demonstrating the ability to solve problems independently.
• Ability to set priorities for use of one's time, work under pressure, and adjust tasks appropriately to meet deliverables and project timelines.
• Political acumen and evidence of strategic thinking capability.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Comfort working in a constantly changing, highly dynamic environment.
• Detail-oriented with highly developed organizational skills.
• Exceptional customer service skills.

Technical Skills

To perform this job successfully, an individual should be able to use Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and have created or used charts, spreadsheets, and databases. The individual must have experience with project management platforms, such as Asana or similar. Successful incumbents are proficient at using Zoom, Outlook, and Intranet/Internet tools.

Physical Demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to sit and talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

This is a mostly remote position.

This position is grant funded through March 31, 2027.