Director, AP Readiness - Strategy
College Board – AP&I
Location: This is a fully remote role. Candidates who live near CB offices have the option of being fully remote or hybrid (Tuesday and Wednesday in office).
Type: This is a full-time term position that will last 18 months from the start date.
About the Team:
The College Board’s Advanced Placement and Instruction division develops and administers coursework taken by more than 3 million students worldwide each school year, and the related subject matter exams utilized by more than 4,000 colleges and universities for course placement and awarding of college credit. These include credit and placement examination programs like CLEP and ACCUplacer; Advanced Placement (AP) and Pre-AP courses in 40+ disciplines; and associated teacher professional learning programs.
The AP Program Access department focuses on expanding availability of AP and Pre-AP courses, participation among traditionally underserved students, and supporting teachers. Our goal is to serve a broad range of high school students to succeed in rigorous courses and earn credit opportunities that accelerate them to and through college. Within this department, our AP Readiness & Learning team of 14 focuses on growing the pipeline of students ready for AP by
We use what we learn to enhance how AP and Pre-AP teachers are trained, supported, and retained, emphasizing effectively leading classrooms that meet the needs of all students, including those taking AP courses for the first time. We are currently assembling a new Readiness Content Development Team to develop and execute a strategy for building the pipeline of students ready for AP, focusing on designing and deploying resources and tools for 8th and 9th grade classrooms.
About the Opportunity:
As Director, AP Readiness - Strategy, you will play a key role in developing our strategy for working in middle schools, with the goal of building earlier connections to the AP community and positioning 8th grade students to develop the academic behaviors and skills they need to transition to high school ready for AP course taking. Your work will focus on developing and delivering evidence-based, actionable, strategic recommendations to put more 8th and 9th grade students on the path to AP readiness. By reverse-engineering the skills and instructional strategies from commonly taken first AP courses, you will craft a compelling value proposition for vertically aligning instruction across middle and high schools, focusing on the academic building blocks necessary for future enrollment in AP courses. You will also help position the AP Access Department, including our Pre-AP and AP Instructional Services teams, to work effectively with middle school teachers, strengthening local AP communities. You relish the opportunity to bridge the gap between strategy, program development, and the practical realities of working in complex school environments – particularly middle schools, ecosystems that are not typically partners to the AP program. As we embrace the challenge of this new work with our team, your ability to thrive in ambiguity and swiftly adapt plans to drive innovative new offerings will be key to our success.
In this role, you will focus on:
Strategy and Program Development (50%)
Working closely with the Director, AP Readiness - Product Development, codify evidence-based skills that signify readiness for AP, and develop plans to incorporate these skills across middle school offerings
Identify opportunities and strategies to build connections to the AP community for middle school teachers and students
Prioritize, build, and launch solutions that address the needs of middle school teachers and students
Collaborate with AP Readiness & Learning, Pre-AP Professional Learning and AP Instructional Services to create programs, resources, trainings, and outcome measures related to middle school strategy
Field Learning (30%)
Develop plans for iterative learning cycles to address complex strategic issues in preparing middle school students for AP readiness.
Conduct focus groups, surveys, and feasibility testing to gather feedback and data, ensuring that middle school strategy is responsive to teacher needs and effectively engages students
Planning and Execution (20%)
Lead end-to-end management of strategic projects from planning/scoping through final deliverables that build connections to the AP community for middle school teachers and students
Collaborate with appropriate stakeholders to ensure project scope, work breakdown structure and roles/responsibilities and approvals are well defined and captured, and respective deliverables are on track
Conduct high impact data analyses to drive decision making, planning and execution of strategy
Facilitate project team meetings, documents, and communicate open issues and next steps while maintaining ongoing documentation of decisions rationale
Create and manage project plans for the team and keep team accountable, elevating and problem-solving for risks
Work with cross-divisional teams to ensure that all aspects of the program development process are coordinated, with a focus on smooth transitions between project phases
Evaluate new product development ideas with respect to organizational mission alignment and feasibility
About You
You have:
5+ years of experience in program development, strategy, policy or educational content creation, with a focus on prototyping and testing, ideally at both the middle and high school level
An ability to think strategically, navigate complex educational landscapes, and develop innovative solutions that are practical and effective
A natural curiosity and an inquisitive mindset that allows you to ask insightful questions, understand how processes work, and seek out new information to deepen your knowledge
A student-centered orientation, with the humility to understand existing practices and constraints within school environments before advocating for new solutions
Strong organizational and project management skills to keep projects on track, matched by comfort with ambiguity that allows you to adjust plans rapidly in the face of new information or challenges
The ability to explore and offer evidence-based solutions with a coherent approach
Excellent communication and listening skills, including helping others understand practical implications of data analyses
Demonstrated ability to influence others and a relationship-building approach that’s motivated by a strong, user-centric orientation
An ability to be clear, compelling, and persuasive across formats and audiences
Strong collaboration skills and are energized by working on cross-divisional teams
Strong attention to detail and a thorough, feedback-oriented approach
An ability to make connections across a variety of teams, seeing the big picture through the details and accommodating different points of view
An ability to travel 3-5 times per year
Authorization to work in the United States
About Our Process
Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled
While the hiring process may vary, it generally includes: resume and application submission, recruiter phone/video screen, hiring manager interview, performance exercise such as live coding, a panel interview, a conversation with leadership and reference checks.
About Our Benefits and Compensation
College Board offers a competitive benefits and compensation program that attracts top talent looking to make a difference in education. As a self-sustaining non-profit, we believe in compensating employees equitably in relation to each other, their qualifications, their impact, and the relevant market.
The hiring range for a new employee in this position is $80,000 to $135,000.
College Board differentiates salaries by location so where you live will narrow the portion of this range in which you can expect a salary.
Your salary will be carefully determined based on your location, relevant experience, the external labor market, and the pay of College Board employees in similar roles. College Board strives to provide our best offer up front based on this criteria.
Your salary is only one part of all that College Board offers, including but not limited to:
A comprehensive package designed to support the well-being of employees and their families and promote education. Our robust benefits package includes health, dental, and vision insurance, generous paid time off, paid parental leave, fertility benefits, pet insurance, tuition assistance, retirement benefits, and more
Recognition of exceptional performance through annual bonuses, salary growth over time through market increases, and opportunities for merit raises and promotions based on increased scope of responsibility
A job that matters, a team that cares, and a place to learn, innovate and thrive
You can expect to have transparent conversations about benefits and compensation with our recruiters throughout your application process.
About Our Culture
Our community matters, and we strive to practice and improve our culture daily. Here are some headlines:
We are motivated to positively impact the educational and career trajectories of millions of students a year
We prioritize building a diverse and inclusive team where every employee can thrive, and every voice is heard
We are a dynamic hybrid team, giving staff members the choice to either be fully remote or hybrid if they live close to a College Board office. Hybrid employees go into offices every Tuesday and Wednesday
We welcome staff to join any or all six of our affinity groups: ARISE (Alliance for Asian Retention, Inclusion, Success, and Engagement; DIASPORA (Alliance for Pan-African Success and Achievement); Pride (alliance for LGBTQ+ staff and allies); Resilience (alliance for Native staff
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