Organizational Overview:

By 2025, KIPP DC will build upon two decades of proven results to develop into a more impactful, innovative, and inclusive school system that provides joyful, identity-affirming learning experiences so that all students and alumni achieve extraordinary outcomes.

Our work is grounded in a commitment to excellence, equity, and justice. We believe all students have the right to rigorous, relevant, and joyful learning experiences led by exceptionally talented and diverse educators who promote student achievement and a sense of belonging. We believe students and teachers best succeed when surrounded by an ecosystem of supports, including our central headquarters team that supports KIPP DC’s 20 schools, 7,300 students, and 1,300 teachers, leaders, and staff members dedicated to this mission.

Position Overview

At KIPP DC, we want to elevate the support we provide the families of the students that attend our schools. This position will contribute to the relationships we build with students’ families and help schools build and implement a pro-active, effective attendance system for all students.

The ideal candidate for this position will have experience in schools and school settings, as well as the ability to form deep relationships with school personnel and lead projects involving several different stakeholders. The person in this position will collaborate with building administrators and school based teams to establish data‐driven attendance systems, school-based attendance teams and school‐wide attendance campaigns. The candidate will need to build relationships and work with various internal departments to drive collaboration and project success; coordinate and integrate information about attendance throughout the network; and interact with and respond effectively to urgent requests from multiple internal and external stakeholders. The ideal candidate will also be technology savvy and able to work with large quantities of data.

This candidate needs to be flexible and to understand the needs of our families and our individual school campuses. The candidate will be expected to travel between our six campuses as well as support school-wide attendance initiatives during the school day and the evenings.

The Attendance Specialist position is currently designated as a 1-year role and will be reevaluated at the end of the SY 22-23. This position will report to Andhra Lutz, Managing Director of Strategic Initiatives and manage and lead attendance efforts for six different schools in the same grade band. The Attendance Specialist will mostly work at KIPP DC campuses, but will also attend meetings at headquarters. This is an exempt, headquarters school-based position, so will follow the calendar and schedule for those roles.

Key Responsibilities

Data and Platform Management - the ideal candidate will use data to ensure full implementation of District and school‐level attendance efforts and to evaluate their effectiveness. The ideal candidate will:

• Create, manage, and interpret large data sets including the creation of a student attendance one-pager and action plans

• Manage data including creating spreadsheets, presentations, pivot tables and other forms of data communication

• Manage and maintain correct contact numbers for families in all of our data systems

• Become expert in various family communication tools including Deanslist, Kinvolved, Remind and any school-based tool

• Lead the network in the adoption and implementation of Kinvolved - provide training, produce reports, and be the network expert in the platform

• Help manage the analysis and presentation of data and progress of data‐driven initiatives for senior management team and external audiences; communicates progress to key stakeholder groups; and incorporates their input.

System Leadership - the ideal candidate will create, implement, and monitor an overall attendance systems for KIPP DC’s 7,000 students. The ideal candidate will:

• Develop a strategy and clear, specific, and ambitious performance measures for individual projects that are easily translated into individual work goals and deliverables for other team members

• Create detailed timelines for each initiative; assess and track project progress regularly using various computer programs and tools; and drive project completion holding others accountable for responsibilities and deadlines.

• Anticipate, identify, and resolve complex obstacles to success of overall program as well as specific projects. Interview and survey other colleagues and management teams to determine opportunities for improvement; and research specific issues and develop detailed recommendations and implementation plans to ensure continuous improvement and innovation within the team.

• Consult with school staff to support the provision of timely, high quality interventions when students are absent from school.

• Serve on network attendance task force to make decisions about protocols, data reporting, platform usage, and necessary school supports

Create functional and effective school systems in tandem with school personnel

• Monitor and support office managers as they implement attendance protocols including the taking of daily attendance, accounting for tardies, following up with families, and working with school staff

• Create and maintain system for checking and updating contact numbers

• Work with office managers to create and maintain system for gathering parent excuse notes

• Use Kinvolved to send timely communications directly to families

Support families and students and schools staff

• Case manage and problem solve for a small subset of families and students who have not responded to interventions
• Facilitate meetings with school personnel including reimagining the data systems and reporting
• Create and maintain record tracking system for phone calls, text messages, postcards, family meetings so that all interventions are available in one place
• Identify families with more than one child and work with school staff to implement family-based interventions
• Identify and partner with community organizations to reduce absenteeism

Lead various teams throughout the organization

• Attend weekly grade-band meetings

• Attend and participate in KIPP DC attendance task force - present data and make decisions about protocols, data, data collection, appropriate interventions

• Attend school-based meetings at the request of the school leader

• Attend MHP meetings at the request of the Mental Health Leadership Team

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree and three to five years of related work experience.

• Master's degree preferred.

• Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector a plus.

• Experience providing training, facilitation and/or coaching for adults. Specific experience in work with youth preferred.

• Previous exposure to or experience with case management, counseling or social work services a plus.

• Ability to create data management systems and data reporting systems

• Technological skills - creation of spreadsheets, powerpoints, knowledge of Excel, Google Docs including Google Sheets, ability to create and analyze surveys

• Strong communication skills.

• Strong cultural competency skills, including the ability to communicate and work effectively and cultivate relationships with a diverse set of stakeholders

• A belief that every child can succeed and that their family plays an integral part in that success.

• Commitment to advancing KIPP DC’s anti-racist ambition through their work with staff, students, alumni, and families

To Apply:

All interested applicants should visit online at http://www.kippdc.org/careers/apply-now/ and the job posting located under “Leadership and Support Staff” section. If you have any questions, please contact the Recruitment Team via e-mail at careers@kippdc.org.

When it comes to compensation, at KIPP DC we strive for clarity, equity, and to be highly competitive. We look at compensation benchmarks in the education and non-profit sector to determine our starting salaries. The anticipated starting salary range for this position is $65,105-$77,504.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

KIPP DC Public Schools does not discriminate against, or tolerate discrimination against, employees or applicants for employment on any legally-recognized basis or protected class including, but not limited to, actual or perceived race, color, national origin, immigration status (except as necessary to comply with federal, DC, state, or local law), religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity or expression), marital status (including domestic partnership status), genetic information, political affiliation, pregnancy, family responsibilities, personal appearance, veteran status, uniform service member status, status of being unemployed, status of victim a survivor of domestic violence, sexual offense or stalking, matriculation or any other protected class under federal, state, DC, or local law.

Click here or here to review KIPP DC’s non-discrimination policy and KIPP DC’s Title IX Coordinator’s contact information.

KIPP DC requires all staff to provide proof that they have had all doses of a primary COVID vaccine or obtain approval for exemption for medical or religious reasons before beginning employment. New hires who have not received all doses of a primary vaccine or who are waiting approval for exemption will not be able to begin employment.

All KIPP DC staff are strongly encouraged to stay up to date on their vaccinations. The CDC currently defines being up to date on the COVID vaccine as having had all doses of a primary vaccine and as having received a booster, if eligible.