Executive Director, DC Region

At Rocketship Public Schools, we believe in the infinite possibility of human potential. We believe that every student deserves the right to dream, to discover, and to develop their unique potential and it is our responsibility and our privilege to unleash the potential inside every Rocketeer we serve. Our non-profit network of public elementary charter schools propels student achievement, develops exceptional educators, and partners with parents who enable high-quality public schools to thrive in their community. We are a collective of parents, teachers, leaders, and students working together to transform the future for underserved communities across our country. At Rocketship Public Schools, we are unleashing potential.

ABOUT ROCKETSHIP DC                         

The District of Columbia is home to one of the most progressive public education reform efforts in the nation. It is the only city in the country with two public school systems of roughly the same size. Competition is strong and student performance has traditionally grown and improved at both traditional district and public charter schools. 

On the charter side, the efforts of DC’s Public Charter School Board to close low-performing schools and attract more high-performers to the region has driven the sector and DC students forward over the years. In their nationwide search to identify innovative and impactful public school models, DC leaders singled out Rocketship as uniquely poised to transform the city’s most underserved communities. 

On August 22, 2016, Rocketship Rise Academy launched as the single largest opening in DC’s twenty-year history of charter schools. And in its very first year, Rocketship Rise scored in the Tier 1 category—the highest performance ranking for DC Public Charter Schools. A year later, Rocketship Legacy Prep opened in Ward 7 and once again earned a Tier 1 rating . In fact, Rocketship Legacy Prep achieved the highest score ever for an elementary school on the DC Public Charter School Board’s 2018 School Quality Report. In August 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Rocketship Infinity Community Prep opened its doors as our third school in DC and achieved the ‘Bold Performance Award’ in 2023. 

Across the nearly 1,500 Rocketeers served at Rocketship’s schools, 72% of students are classified as at-risk, 12% are homeless, and 90% are African American. The performance of Rocketship’s DC Rocketeers is powerful proof that demographics do not define student potential. 

ROLE SUMMARY

Reporting directly to the CEO, the Washington DC Executive Director serves as the leader of the Rocketship DC region and is responsible for setting the strategic vision aligned to Rocketship’s 5 Year Plan, shaping the external environment, and leading the regional teams to achieve transformational results. The Executive Director manages a $45M budget and oversees three public schools serving nearly 1,500 Rocketeers. There are over 150 DC team members working in and out of schools focused on: student achievement, development, external relationships management, family recruitment, student wellness, before and after care programming, and much more.  

This role will directly manage two teams, the Schools and Program Team &  the Community Engagement Team, which includes a focus on school leadership and management, instruction and program design, operations, external affairs and community engagement, family recruitment, and other core functions and roles.

The charge of the Executive Director is to 1) ensure the success of our Rocketeers; 2) cultivate the external environment for Rocketship to thrive and continue to grow the region’s impact and reputation over time; and 3) manage a financially sustainable network of high-performing elementary schools serving disadvantaged communities with the excellent education they deserve, 4) continue to maintain tight alignment and relationship with the larger Rocketship Network and Network Support Team (NeST) that enables strong collaboration, optimizing the resources and strengths of the National Network in a collaborative pursuit of ambitious, collective goals.

The Rocketship DC Executive Director is responsible for ensuring the success of the larger DC region on multiple measures, most importantly the achievement of our Rocketeers. They will accomplish this through effective development and management of the Schools and Program Team (e.g., VP of Schools and other core regional functions). Effective management includes inspiring all school and regional team members to achieve annual goals and consistently deliver outstanding results. The ideal candidate combines the capacity for systems-level and strategic thinking with experience in the non-profit sector. 

Additionally, the Executive Director is charged with directly shaping the external conditions where Rocketship schools can thrive, and the DC region can continue to grow its impact. This entails setting a strategic vision for external relations, directly and successfully growing and managing the regional DC Board as well as partnering with the Board in recruiting new members, collaborating with network and school leaders to successfully create and refine a strategy towards growing the regions impact and number of students and families served over time, engaging and cultivating relationships with donors, champions and advocates and forging partnerships that align with our vision and serve our Rocketeers and their families. In addition, the Executive Director is responsible for ensuring that our Family Recruitment and Parent Leadership teams, which are critical pillars in regard to school health and the DC region's theory of change, continue to thrive. The Executive Director is responsible for ensuring these groups continue to drive towards their goals and realize the ambitious objectives of the DC region.

Critical to the success of the Executive Director is an unwavering commitment to the community. The Executive Director is responsible for proactively addressing community needs, becoming an active participant within the DC education landscape, stewarding and nurturing allies and donors, and aligning regional priorities with the broader network community. Close collaboration and partnership between the Executive Director, our school leaders, and the broader Rocketship network staff is essential. 

Rocketship attracts regional leaders with ambitious aspirations. Just as we are committed to propelling student growth, we are dedicated to advancing the careers of our talented staff. The Executive Director will join a regional and national team (NeST), receive ongoing professional development in order to establish the vision and growth strategy, support in achieving community alignment and engagement, and guidance in order to ensure financial stability, as a member of a growing network regional leaders have ongoing opportunities to expand their reach, influence, and impact beyond their role.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

The ideal Washington DC Executive Director candidate will align with Rocketship’s Vision, Mission, and Values. The candidate will establish, lead, and reinforce a positive culture within the DC region to ensure Rocketship returns to being a model of excellence in public education. This leader will have a strong presence, excellent communication skills and significant ability to motivate and influence others, they will have proven experience successfully managing diverse teams and realizing strong outcomes, especially in regards to student achievement and talent development. The candidate should possess exceptional strategic management, analytical, and problem-solving skills, with a track record of delivering on commitments through excellent execution.

The candidate will have the ability to easily navigate across the spectrum of Rocketship Public Schools stakeholders and communicate effectively with all kinds of people, including board members, NeST team members, donors, community members, and families. This leader will be grounded and connected to the community, and must show that they deeply value students, parents, teachers, and school leaders as stakeholders and partners in ensuring effective educational advocacy. The candidate will have experience successfully building coalitions and managing community and organizational stakeholders, as well as navigating political landscapes and working with elected officials/boards, especially in a manner that demonstrates an ability to ensure the successful renewal of the DC charter and region while over time enabling the DC region to continue to grow in impact. The ideal candidate will have experience leading multiple facets of an organization, ideally with a nonprofit or public-sector organization, and be able to easily understand and plug into a new environment.

The candidate must have strong emotional intelligence, excellent relationship management skills, and experience working with a diverse set of stakeholders. The candidate must have a deep understanding and commitment to creating and fostering a workplace that embraces and promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. 

With an entrepreneurial spirit and growth mindset, this leader will be collaborative, innovative, and resilient, and demonstrate both humility and authenticity in their work. The candidate will lead with a spirit of inquiry, be a good listener, and be eager to learn and receive feedback. The candidate must also be a team player who listens first, understands perspectives, and finds shared values. We are seeking candidates who are talented leaders from diverse backgrounds and sectors, including but not limited to education.

The Executive Director will be the face and leader of Rocketship in Washington DC with a primary focus around ensuring the DC region meets key milestones in order to reach and maintain sustainable success while also continuing to grow the impact of Rocketship DC in years to come. A successful Executive Director will demonstrate leadership in the following ways:

• Building a strong, representative, inclusive organizational culture in the region and in each school that is tightly aligned with the larger Rocketship network and organization and ensures school success and impact. 
• Driving strategic vision aligned to Rocketship’s 5 Year Strategic Plan, strategy, planning and execution for the success and sustainability of the region on student achievement and existing/new charters, charter renewals, and other opportunities.
• Driving strong collaboration with the network support teams (NeST) and National Leadership Team (NLT) to ensure that schools are receiving and optimizing critical areas of support and expertise in a manner that ensures priorities are being fully executed across the region in alignment with NeST and best practices. 
• Implementing strong systems (e.g., GRPI) to lead and reinforce role clarity, goal setting, communication, and other processes and norms for the regional team to deliver all goals successfully.
• Leveraging executive judgment to identify, assess, and communicate risks/threats and opportunities, prioritize quickly and effectively, make critical decisions, coordinate remedies/solutions.
• Engaging internal and external stakeholders for input, alignment, and support.
• Continually assessing and proactively planning to improve the health of the region. 
• Directing regional communications strategy and serving as a credible spokesperson, while leveraging resources and support from the marketing and communications team, to effectively manage media/press relations in the region. 
• Demonstrating financial leadership to prioritize, make decisions, deliver on plan, flex where needed, driving long-term effectiveness and sustainability. 

• Ensuring that the VP of Schools, schools, and regional Program team areable to regularly realize a standing of top tier status on the new Performance Management Framework (PMF) (level 1 or 2) and the annual student achievement goals, while engaging and inspiring teams through alignment, strong communication, and ongoing feedback/coaching that is tightly aligned to the National Program Team and Rocketship Core model.
• Work closely with the VP of Schools and National Program team to analyze and action plan around student achievement data and schools target data to continuously improve, drive results, and increase impact.
• Work closely with the VP of Schools and National Program team to  to ensure that schools continue to implement rituals and practices that deepen parent engagement, enable parent engagement goals to be met, and create/sustain a welcoming school culture for families.
• Ensure that the DC region continues to drive a culture rooted in all means all–through the meaningful inclusion of special education students and rigorous support of a Positive Behavior Interventions & Support structure and serving all students (e.g., low level of suspensions, no expulsions, and no ‘pushing out’ students).
• Continuously drive a culture rooted in inclusion of special education students and rigorous support of a Positive Behavior Interventions & Support structure and serving all students (e.g., low level of suspensions, no expulsions, and no ‘pushing out’ students).

• Building, developing, and maintaining a rigorous culture of excellence in every interaction with stakeholders, community members, partners, and team members.
• Increasing accountability and empowering all teams to ensure success against goals. 
• Establishing sustainability in school leadership and improving school performance through effective coaching, mentoring, recruitment, retention strategies, and team engagement.
• Engaging, motivating, and managing direct reports and the regional teams.
• Working with a team to establish strategy, planning, and execution related to academic achievement, school culture, family recruitment and enrollment, parent leadership, organizing, and engagement.
• Cultivating and maintaining strong relationships with neighborhood stakeholders, and community/neighborhood associations at each school.
• Ensuring tight collaboration and partnership between the VP of Schools and National Program and Talent Teams to align teacher professional development to strategic priorities and school data and track performance improvement across the team in tight alignment with the National Program Team, core model, and critical national initiatives.

• Recruiting, appointing, managing, and engaging regional DC Board members and executing quarterly board meetings as well as annual board rituals (i.e. school visit, meeting with stakeholders like parents, school leaders, etc.).
• Managing and leveraging important community relationships with local elected officials at all levels (e.g., DC Public Charter School Board to ANCs to City Council, etc.), power-brokers, and other influencers.
• Forging partnerships and alliances with child and family serving non-profit organizations, public entities, community-based organizations, and civic and community organizations to provide joint advocacy, support, or services that our Rocketeers and families need.
• Planning, coordinating, and facilitating collaboration with other aligned organizations within the region to advocate for common goals or defend common interests. 
• Continually assessing and proactively planning to improve the health of the region and lead the regional network support.
• Lead regional fundraising and philanthropic relationship management.

• BA/BS required; Master’s or higher in Education, Public Administration, or a related field preferred. 
• 10+ years of professional experience in nonprofit management with a proven track record of success improving outcomes within their scope of management.
• Experience and successful track record of managing, coaching, and developing team members.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate staff and bring out the best in peers.
• Experience in partnering with nonprofit Board of Directors.
• Highly proficient in business and financial management. Possesses the skills essential to managing an enterprise, such as strategic financial planning, intelligent budgeting, development of achievable business plans and analyses, prudent expense control, and required financial reporting.
• Demonstrated success with fundraising with both private donors and government entities at the federal, state, or local level. 
• Keen analytic, organization and problem-solving skills which support and enable sound decision making.
• Successful experience implementing multi-year strategic action plans.
• Excellent relationship building skills with an ability to prioritize, negotiate, and work with a variety of internal and external stakeholders through engaging communication skills.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills and ability to communicate effectively on multiple levels ranging from the Board to educators and staff. 
• A commitment and ability to develop and maintain constructive relationships with staff, students, parents, donors, community constituents, local government entities, media, and vendors.
• Experience articulating the mission, vision, and values of an entity to the public through media engagements, public speaking, and more. 
• Experience in effectively navigating a highly regulated governmental environment.
• Excellent analytical skills, strong ability to lead multiple complex projects under rigorous timelines and political nuances and to work in a demanding dynamic environment to meet organizational goals.
• High emotional intelligence, integrity, and interpersonal skills – and an exceptional collaborator. 
• A strong sense of confidence, and the wisdom and courage to make difficult choices, based on available data

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 position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, and communicate with both adults and children. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and occasionally climb ladders. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is moderate to high.

Compensation:

Commensurate with qualifications and experience, plus excellent health and wellness benefits, 403b retirement plan, flexible spending account (FSA), and generous paid time off.

Rocketship Public Schools provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Rocketship Public Schools complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Rocketship Public Schools expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of Rocketship Public Schools’ employees to perform their expected job duties is absolutely not tolerated. Click here for our Sexual Harassment Policy.  For questions, concerns, or complaints, please contact Human Resources.