Sr. Project Manager, Public Education Leadership Project
Harvard University
EEO Statement We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Sr. Project Manager, Public Education Leadership Project Harvard Graduate School of Education 56450BR
Job Summary
Over 14,000 public school districts operate in the United States, spending nearly $700 billion annually. There are nearly 50 million students enrolled in public schools today in the United States. The 100 largest districts serve nearly a quarter of total students and more than a third of the nation's minority students.
Pockets of high performance exist in these large systems, but excellence at scale remains an elusive goal in education. A key element in realizing the tremendous potential for impact in public school systems is improved leadership and management. However, there are few sources of specialized management knowledge for the public education sector The Public Education Leadership Project (PELP), a joint HBS-HGSE project, was established in January 2004 to address this management knowledge gap and build leadership capacity in urban school districts.
The Senior Project Manager for PELP will work closely with the two Co-Chairs (one from Harvard Business School and one from Harvard Graduate School of Education) to execute on the PELP project with a focus on effective communication of the project's impact, institutional relationship-building to increase our reach, and cross-institutional coordination with an eye towards maximizing each school's strengths.
Job-Specific Responsibilities
Project Management and Administration
Provides overall project management and administration for various knowledge development activities (e.g., case writing, article publications) and a growing number of professional/leadership development institutes involving multiple school district partners and teams. Activities include but is not limited to:
Manages the growing library of cases, articles, and related research that have been published since 2004 as well as help support the project management of new knowledge development efforts. These duties include but not limited to:
overseeing and maintaining project files, data, and project archives of PELP.
supporting faculty co-chairs in various tasks related to their research and publishing work.
Overseeing the timely and targeted release and dissemination of various education tools & resources for the sharing of best practices among partner school districts
Provides project management leadership in various professional development institutes and other type of programming involving school district leaders (e.g., Superintendents, board members, cabinet members, etc.). Duties include but is not limited to:
identifying and communicating deadlines and follow ups to ensure they are met, and creatively solving problems and alerting co-chairs to any unforeseen challenges that arise.
Onboarding of facilitators for the PELP Summer Institute and other related professional learning offerings.
Monitoring and reviewing for approval timesheets of temporary hires and other contractors.
Building surveys and conducting program analysis of both existing and emerging project initiatives
Provides overall administrative support in the operations of the project. Duties include but not limited to:
Gathers, maintains, and analyzes data pertaining to the project for strategic planning and decision making and to be used by development offices at both HBS and HGSE for capital campaign and other donor relations
In coordination with Co-Chairs, develops annual operating budget and regularly monitors revenues/expenses to ensure program achieves financial goals
Provides administrative support to faculty co-chairs for related program needs
Oversees all logistics for meetings related to the project
Communications
A strong written and verbal communicator who can help to strengthen and broaden the growing network of more than 50 large urban districts and hundreds of participants who have participated in PELP's work over the years. Duties include but are not limited to:
Develops written reports impact to communicate our impact on a regular basis to a variety of key stakeholders
Coordinates and helps to draft and disseminate the PELP quarterly newsletter
Works closely with colleagues in HBS Working Knowledge, HGSE Usable Knowledge to identify and generate story ideas for use across publications; ensuring that the publications advance the mission of the project
Helps to develop communication materials for fundraising efforts
Maintains and builds the customer relationship management database housed in Salesforce database
Maintains, creates and publishes content on the PELP website
Relationships and Cross-Institutional Coordination
PELP is unique in having had a nearly 20-year track record of cross-school effort within Harvard University. As such, the candidate must be able to:
Coordinate with partners within the Harvard community - other research projects with similar interests, other faculty, and/or other graduate schools willing to join in the PELP partnership
Identify, cultivate and manage outreach and relationships with potential school districts and school district leaders; communicate with school, district, and state decision makers and leaders to build and grow partnerships
Cultivate and strengthen key partnerships and investments to advance the project's impact on the field
Basic Qualifications
BA required, 4 years of related experience. Advanced degree may count towards experience.
Previous project management experience required.
Previous experience managing budgets required.
Candidates wishing to be considered must submit a resume in addition to a cover letter.
Additional Qualifications and Skills
M.Ed. preferred
Strong writing, communication, and project management skills
Ability to coordinate multiple faculty projects on varying timelines and areas of focus
Ability to coordinate student participation in those projects
Experience interacting with district leadership and district teams
Experience managing and coordinating operations at Harvard schools