Chief Schools Officer

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is a district on the rise, serving over 320,000 students in 500 schools and employing over 44,000 people, most of them teachers. CPS has set ambitious goals to ensure that every student, in every school and every neighborhood, has access to a world-class learning experience that prepares each for success in college, career, and civic life. In order to fulfill this mission, we developed the five-year strategic plan, Success 2029 : Together We Rise, setting the goals and outlining the strategies to ensure a rigorous, joyful, and equitable experience for every student. Six core values are embedded within the plan – student-centered, whole child, equity, academic excellence, community partnership, and continuous learning.

District-run CPS schools are organized into 18 networks. The Office of Network Support provides strategic direction, leadership development and administrative support to the schools within each network while also driving critical support that help boost student learning and well-being.

Job Summary

Under the direction of the Chief Education Officer, the Chief Schools Officer will lead the Office of Network Support for Chicago Public Schools. This position is responsible for principal quality and school performance, primarily through the direct management of CPS’ 17 regional Network Chiefs, the Independent Schools Network, and the Options Schools Network. The Network Chiefs directly supervise Principals, who are responsible for the leadership development and support for principals that leads to high-quality teaching and learning in every classroom and for student achievement in their schools. The Independent Schools Network comprises 60 semi-autonomous schools; the Principals in these schools are also evaluated through the Office of Network Support.

The Chief Schools Officer will be held accountable for the following responsibilities :

• Develop and effectively execute an implementation plan that advances the District’s five-year vision, supports a seamless PreK-12 learning community and allows for transparent accountability towards CPS’ student outcome goals;
• Actively recruit, hire, support and develop Network Chiefs and an internal team of 30 staff; and
• Cultivate a culture of high expectations with shared strategic goals around measurable and continuous improvement in principal quality, as well as around student academic achievement in all schools.
• Create, manage and sustain effective systems that enable Network Chiefs to identify, recruit, support and develop a strong pool of highly-skilled Principal candidates for schools as well as a strong pool of Network support team members; this work includes :
• Monitoring performance : Data and performance management systems that enable weekly, real-time coaching conversations with Network Chiefs, centered on continuous improvement of Principal and school quality and on the impact of Network support;
• Developing leaders : Transparent, fair and effective tools for assessing Principal and Network team leadership capacity, developing leadership and succession plans and providing differentiated supports that result in improved performance;
• Setting a learning agenda : A learning scope and sequence for Network Chiefs that is built on regular assessment of chief and team capacity and that results in measurable improvement of the coaching and management provided to Principals in schools;
• Allocating resources : Systems that allow Network Chiefs to make data-informed decisions about Principal needs and to allocate resources accordingly, including the allocation of instructional supports and content experts to specific groups of Principals, based on need;
• Informing stakeholders : A communication system for ensuring Network Chiefs, their teams and the Principals receive actionable information in a timely and efficient way, and that peer leaders in CPS, external stakeholders and leadership team members are well-informed of Office initiatives, successes and struggles.
• Manage team administration and operations, including making sure that all team members are held accountable for meeting and exceeding expectations and that the office remains a good steward of public resources.
• Develop systems to effectively provide ad-hoc operational support to Principals and Network (e.g. escalated inquiries, emergencies, etc.).
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with other senior leadership team members, including all Academic Chiefs, as well as leaders on the Equity, Talent and Operations teams;
• Work toward convergence with the full team to ensure that the needs of Network teams and Principals are met by other Central Office functions;
• Work with the Talent team to develop internal talent benches and external talent recruitment strategies for Chief and Deputy Network Chief roles; and
• Liaise with Support Centers to monitor schools’ operational performance and compliance, resolve open issues, and ensure principal time is focused on instructional leadership.
• Other duties and workstreams as assigned

In order to be successful and achieve the above responsibilities, the Chief Schools Officer must possess the following qualifications :

Education Required :

Experience Required :

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities :

Conditions of Employment

As a condition of employment with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), employees are required to :