Job Description
Office:
Office of School Improvement and Supports
Date Posted:
6/18/2026
Salary Range:
1-5 / $87,024 - $98,195
NTE Date:
N/A
Position Overview
The mission of the Office of School Improvement and Supports (OSIS) is to ensure we support our schools and our students to succeed and to meet the Goals of our Strategic Plan. The Office works to dramatically accelerate the number of excellent schools through school transformation, including design, partnerships, Connected Schools, and Comprehensive School Planning (CSP). The Office develops, aligns, and delivers high-quality supports to ensure students, particularly students furthest away from opportunity, are in school, able to engage in rigorous learning, and have a joyous educational environment. The Office ensures our schools have excellent leaders, educators, and staff who are prepared to meet the diverse needs of the young people we serve.
Divisions/Teams
School Improvement
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School Performance: Promotes data-driven decision-making through a cycle of continuous improvement to develop, implement, and monitor the comprehensive school plan designed to move schools toward a consistent standard of excellence.
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Design: Designs innovative school models that transform learning for our students furthest from opportunity and supports District workstreams to be more grounded in community voice by anchoring in data, community engagement and understanding, and elevating and integrating student voice.
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Connected Schools: Supports schools in implementing the DCPS Connected Schools Model. Connected Schools take a whole child, whole school, whole community approach by making schools spaces that support not only a student’s academic development, but also the student and family’s overall wellbeing through access to resources related to health, employment, housing, and more.
Student Supports
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School Mental Health: Ensures that students' behavioral and social-emotional needs are met to increase access to the curriculum, strengthen emotional regulation and prosocial skills, and respond to school communities in times of crisis.
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Student Placement: Ensures every student that requires a change in school assignment based on housing status, military transition, community release or other special circumstance receives a placement that considers their unique needs for school success.
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Student Health Services: Ensures access to preventative and coordinated services for all students to support health and wellness, appropriate care of students with chronic health conditions and prevent absenteeism due to health-related factors.
Learning and Development Sciences
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Learning and Development Sciences Division (LDS) is charged with supporting the district’s Strategic Plan goals on Safety and Belonging. Grounded in the latest science of learning and development and powered by lived experiences, the district’s approach is a long-term vision that incorporates critical system shifts, codifies the most effective evidence-based practices, and supports individual schools to implement systems and practices that create favorable conditions for learning.
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Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS): DCPS’s approach to tiered supports is grounded in a commitment to serving the whole child. The MTSS team supports schools to understand student and staff strengths and needs holistically and supports their implementation of aligned evidence-based best practices across academics, social-emotional learning, attendance, and behavior.
IMPACT: IMPACT is DCPS’ effectiveness assessment system for all school-based staff. IMPACT endeavors for all school-staff members to receive timely and accurate feedback on their performance and to have that performance recognized and rewarded. The ultimate goal of IMPACT is to ensure that all students, at all schools, have access to a highest quality staff members across all roles.
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IMPACT Operations: The team coordinates across DCPS to develop guidance for individual components that reflect DCPS’ priorities, manages external vendors for the accurate and timely production of scores for various components, manages a helpline where all staff can reach out with questions about their evaluation, supports managers to ensure all evaluations are conducted with fidelity, and produces data analysis to support the mission of other teams across DCPS.
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IMPACT Align: This team develops tools to ensure all teacher evaluators have what they need to apply DCPS’ classroom observation rubric accurately and consistently; produces resources and guidance designed to build fluency in the observation rubric among teachers; supports principal and instructional superintendent alignment with respect to DCPS’ school leader evaluation rubric; and collaborates with teams across DCPS to ensure all supported rubrics continue to provide a clear language of effectiveness that supports the mission of IMPACT.
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IMPACT Design: This team gathers and responds to feedback from DCPS leadership, staff and other central services teams. This team uses this feedback to consider possible adjustments to IMPACT to ensure the evaluation system remains accurate and aligned to DCPS priorities. The team also liaises with other states, districts, education groups, and researchers to learn from the best practices and lessons learned in the field of staff and school leader evaluation.
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School Performance: Promotes data-driven decision-making through a cycle of continuous improvement to develop, implement, and monitor the comprehensive school plan designed to move schools toward a consistent standard of excellence.
-
Design: Designs innovative school models that transform learning for our students furthest from opportunity and supports District workstreams to be more grounded in community voice by anchoring in data, community engagement and understanding, and elevating and integrating student voice.
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Connected Schools: Supports schools in implementing the DCPS Connected Schools Model. Connected Schools take a whole child, whole school, whole community approach by making schools spaces that support not only a student’s academic development, but also the student and family’s overall wellbeing through access to resources related to health, employment, housing, and more.
The Specialist, Support and Improvement will advance district and school outcomes by providing direct, field-based implementation support, capacity building, and progress monitoring to schools designated under ESSA as needing Comprehensive or Targeted Support and Improvement (CSI, TSI/ATSI). The Specialist plays a lead role in fostering a data-driven, results-focused culture within schools designated by the SEA as needing support and improvement. The Specialist serves as a strategic partner to principals and instructional leadership teams, bridging district priorities, evidence-based practices, and state accountability requirements to ensure schools implement high quality improvement plans with fidelity and achieve measurable gains in student learning, climate, and subgroup performance. The Specialist will be primarily responsible for (1) comprehensive school planning, (2) effectively working with principals and superintendents to monitor school performance, (3) advising principals and instructional superintendents regarding effective continuous improvement strategies, and (4) ensuring federal and state compliance regarding continuous improvement initiatives (i.e., Investment in Schools Grants, Title I, Every Student Succeeds Act, etc.).
This position has been designated as Protection Sensitive. Pursuant to section 410 of Chapter 4 of the D.C. Personnel Regulations; in addition to the general suitability screening, individuals applying for or occupying protection sensitive positions are subject to the following checks and tests: Criminal background check; Sex Offender Registry check; and Traffic record check (as applicable).
The Specialist, Support and Improvement will report to the Deputy Chief, School Improvement.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
The below statements are intended to describe the general nature and scope of work being performed by this position. This is not a complete listing of all responsibilities, duties, and/or skills required. Other duties may be assigned.
- Works directly with the cluster instructional superintendents and school principals to develop high-quality comprehensive school improvement plans, School Improvement plans (SIP), and supports implementation.
- Supports cluster superintendent in designing and managing their performance management processes for school improvement plans and goals.
- Translates complex quantitative and qualitative school performance data analyses into a format that a broader audience can understand and act upon.
- Assisting in the analysis and presentation of data and the progress of data-driven initiatives for team and external audiences.
- Liaises with other teams and external stakeholders to coordinate district support for principals in operationalizing school improvement plans.
- Conduct monthly SIP/CSP implementation review meetings or equivalent walkthroughs; document findings, ratings, and next steps; verify implementation evidence.
- Align budgets and allowable uses (e.g., Title I, Part A, IDEA, local) to SIP priorities; monitor spend against plan; surface underutilization risks; conducts program, data, and cost analyses to determine opportunities for improvement.
- Assist the SI Deputy Chief with evaluating the likelihood and consequences of non-compliance and/or deficiencies in DCPS continuous improvement procedures and plans.
- Interviews and surveys other colleagues and management teams to determine opportunities for improvement, researches specific issues, and develops detailed recommendations and implementation plans to resolve.
- Builds relationships and liaises with various internal departments to drive collaboration and project success.
- Interacts with and responds effectively to urgent requests from multiple internal and external DCPS stakeholders.
- Ensure compliance with district and state ESSA requirements by maintaining required documentation and monitoring artifacts, and by organizing evidence to support audit readiness.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree and three to five years of related work experience.
- Master's degree preferred.
- Four to six years of successful school based or district experience improving student outcomes, with demonstrated results in data driven instruction and/or MTSS, performance measurement, program evaluation, data analysis, educational research preferred.
- Proven track record in managing and coordinating complex projects leading to continuous improvement routines.
- Excellent quantitative skills, including the ability to examine available data, apply decision rules and analytical methods, produce descriptive and inferential statistics, and prepare meaningful reports based on analyses that enable programmatic next steps and actions.
- Demonstrated success in using data analysis to inform strategic planning and decision-making, applying skills to communicate complex information to a variety of audiences easily and training others in measurement and target-setting.
- Strong attention to detail and accuracy of information, including the ability to organize large amounts of data, track multiple projects simultaneously, and set priorities for analysis and use in consultation with numerous stakeholders.
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to contribute additively to discussions, drawing upon expertise to influence group outcomes.
- Results-orientation coupled with strong work ethic.
- Comfort with ambiguity.
- Ability to work independently and be a self-starter, while collaborating with others on meeting common goal.
- Ability to exercise good judgment in quickly dealing with difficult situations, unexpected challenges, and works to find solutions.
DCPS Values
- STUDENTS FIRST: We recognize students as whole children and put their needs first in everything we do.
- COURAGE: We have the audacity to learn from our successes and failures, to try new things, and to lead the nation as a proof point of PK-12 success.
- EQUITY: We work proactively to eliminate opportunity gaps by interrupting institutional bias and investing in effective strategies to ensure every student succeeds.
- EXCELLENCE: We work with integrity and hold ourselves accountable for exemplary outcomes, service, and interactions.
- TEAMWORK: We recognize that our greatest asset is our collective vision and ability to work collaboratively and authentically.
- JOY: We enjoy our collective work and will enthusiastically celebrate our success and each other.
We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to creating an inclusive, accessible workplace. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals with disabilities. Accommodation and/or application assistance is available upon request at all stages of the application and employment process. To request accommodation, please contact dcps.eeo-ada@k12.dc.gov.