Job Description:

About Us:

The Ohio Department of Education is a diverse team of passionate, education-focused professionals dedicated to fulfilling the vision established in Each Child, Our Future, Ohio’s strategic plan for education. The vision is, “In Ohio, each child is challenged to discover and learn, prepared to pursue a fulfilling post-high school path and empowered to become a resilient, lifelong learner who contributes to society.” Ensuring this vision for each of Ohio’s 1.7 million students, in partnership with more than 240,000 educators across the state, is no small feat. Under the leadership of the superintendent of public instruction and governed by the State Board of Education, Department team members, in collaboration with a wide range of partners, are sharply focused on helping schools and districts continually improve to be the best they can be for each child. Equity and impact are core to every program, service and action. The Department’s work is well regarded both in Ohio and nationally for its innovative, leading-edge and forward-looking approach. When the Department succeeds, students succeed, communities succeed and Ohio succeeds.

Culture and Values:

Ohio Department of Education is mission driven, values a culture of feedback and places a premium on growth mindset among all its team members. Together the enterprise is building a continuous learning and improvement community.

Overview:

Strong relationship building skills including superb communication skills make you a great candidate for the Regional Specialist role. The opportunity is to serve in Southeast Ohio as a regional support specialist between state agencies, state support teams, and educational service centers for the delivery of coordinated regional school improvement efforts.

Major Responsibilities & Duties:

Provides technical assistance and strategic support to State Support Team (SST) fiscal agents, SST directors, and others to promote a high level of implementation of the Ohio Improvement Process (OIP) across assigned quadrant (Southeast Ohio):

• Meets and participates in the decision-making process with fiscal agents, Educational Service Centers (ESCs), and other partners to determine the ongoing regional technical assistance support of identified districts;


• Meets with directors and their staff as needed to build and enhance regional capacity of the OIP and related ODE improvement initiatives;


• Gathers, analyzes and interprets qualitative and quantitative data; monitors actions to improve effectiveness of OIP implementation;


• Facilitates and supports collaboration between regional partners (i.e., SSTs and ESCs) in providing technical assistance to identified support districts;


• Identifies problems and recommends solutions;


• Attends regular meetings with SSTs;


• Conducts regular visits to priority districts to monitor SST support of OIP implementation and tool usage.

Assists regions with the ED STEPS process and the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement Plan (CCIP):

• Manages documentation of the SST activities (e.g., regional planning and budgets);


• Assists districts, schools and SSTs with One Plan implementation;


• Ensures alignment of regional plan and budget;


• Oversees and monitors implementation of the performance agreement between fiscal agents and ODE (e.g., evaluates Regional Systems per HB 115);


• Provides information and training to regional partners (e.g., directors and other members of the fiscal agency) on items identified in the performance agreement monitoring tool;


• Reviews data reports (e.g., ESSA monitoring reports, Ohio Improvement Process Implementation report, Performance Agreement Deliverables report) for alignment to regional plan activities;


• Supports SST directors in completion and timely submission of reports to ODE.

Utilizes communication strategies with ODE Offices/Centers and statewide/regional partners to communicate ODE priorities to the field:

• Serves as a primary field contact;


• Meets with ODE centers/offices to ensure managers are knowledgeable about the practices, policies, and programs to enable successful communication to the field;


• Provides information to ODE, as requested, regarding district and quadrant/regional issues;


• Answers questions in conjunction with other ODE contacts;


• Communicates regularly with the ODE immediate supervisor;


• Attends ODE required meetings;


• Collaborates with other statewide/regional partners (e.g., Ohio Leadership Advisory Council, Battelle for Kids, Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence).

Minimum Qualifications:

Completion of a Master’s degree in one of the following areas: education administration, educational leadership, public administration, education, public policy management, social sciences, curriculum design; and 3 years of experience in any combination of the following:

• Building level school administration (i.e., principal, assistant principal).


• District level school administration (i.e., director of special education, pupil services, curriculum and instruction, federal programs, or related service areas).