About Us

Mastery Charter Schools is a non-profit public charter school network that currently operates twenty-two schools in Philadelphia PA and Camden NJ serving over 13,000 elementary, middle, and high school students. Mastery is unusual in that most of our schools are turnarounds of struggling neighborhood district schools located in high poverty communities. Our turnaround schools have dramatically increased academic achievement and decreased violence. Our work has been recognized by US Department of Education and President Obama.

We believe that educational inequity is the most pressing social problem facing our country. Our goal is to create a network of exceptionally high performing urban schools organized around a common vision: “Mastery schools are joyful, authentic communities where students learn how to think critically and act independently so they are truly prepared for post-secondary success.” Our work is rooted in an unwavering belief that our students can achieve at the highest levels. To fulfill this vision, Mastery values academic as well as personal skills, and schools match their high expectations with high levels of support.

For more information about the organization, please visit Mastery’s website: masterycharter.org.

Position Summary

Mastery Charter Schools seeks an exceptional leader to serve as Cultural Context Director (CCD) and drive the vision for a culturally responsive program model. Mastery believes that culture, race, and identity strongly influence how teachers teach, students learn, and the school community interacts. We believe that if staff are aware and responsive to culture and individual identities, they will be better equipped to connect with and engage our students. The CCD leads the integration of cultural context into Mastery’s program model. This work has two primary foci.

• First, the CCD designs and implements staff training to develop staff’s race and cultural awareness. Ultimately, our goal is that this awareness translates into more effective classroom and school culture. To that end, the CCD works closely with Mastery's academic and school culture to ensure our program model leverages cultural context to drive high expectations for our students and authentic,quality relationships between staff and students. Because of Mastery’s scale, a large portion of the CCD’s work is developing robust “train the trainer” systems so trainings can be rolled out effectively and quickly across the organization.

• Second, the CCD will work with Mastery’s program team to develop trainings and programing that promote our students’ positive racial identity that supports their agency in pursuing academic achievement and navigating the real world upon graduation.

The CCD is an expert on the integration of cultural context in a school model. S/he is also a master trainer and implementation manager – recognizing that the quality of our cultural context program will be largely determined by the quality of the materials, training, and implementation support that school staff receive. The CCD knows how to get things done.

Importantly, the CCD is a thought leader within the Mastery organization and contributes as senior leader to our ongoing effort to be a more thoughtful, inclusive, and effective organization.

The CC Director is a member of the Academic Team and reports to the Chief Academic Officer.

Key responsibilities include:

• Research best practices for cultural context integration in schools
• Develop and lead staff training strategy and deliver training when appropriate
• Participate in the design and implementation of Mastery’s school culture and social emotional learning program model
• Work with Academic Team to support efforts to integrate cultural context and positive racial identity into the instructional model and selected curriculum components
• Support efforts to secure outside funding to support work
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Experience and deep understanding of cultural context’s role in k-12 at a classroom and school-wide level
• Experience and expertise designing and delivering adult training
• Experience in selecting/developing student facing materials, lessons, and experiences
• Ability to work effectively with a variety of other departments and organization leaders– can gain support and buy-in from diverse personalities
• Track record of creating and managing complex projects
• Great communication and facilitation skills
• Strong personal initiative and drive. High energy. Thoughtful go-getter.
• Organized -- can keep multiple balls in the air without stress or drama
• Strategic -- can think and manage in terms of systems
• Smart -- quick learner who is insatiable curious and able to figure it out
• Committed to Mastery vision and values

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree preferred
• 5+ years of experience teaching strongly preferred
• Minimum 3 years of project or consulting work in cultural context/diversity in a school setting.
• Experience in consulting or working in a large organization environment is desirable.

To Apply

• Please submit a resume via our website: www.Masterycharter.org