We have committed to every child in Delaware attending an excellent school. To that end, we are seeking an Executive Director to pursue and extend this vision and to maximize Teach For America’s impact inside the organization and outside in our communities. The Executive Director will inspire and motivate his/her team while creating a culture of excellence, urgency, and core values alignment—balancing our short-term work and long-term efforts.

To realize the vision of growing and deepening our impact, the Executive Director will maximize our funding base of more than 1.2 million dollars annually; set the vision and direction for the corps, alums, and staff; and play a critical role in the education movement across the state. Delaware is a full state region that calls on the executive director to work deeply in partnership with community, private sector, education, and political leaders at all times.

Teach For America’s Executive Directors are part of the national senior leadership team at Teach For America and are at the forefront of improving the state of education in this country, impacting the future of thousands of children. The Executive Director for Teach For America-Delaware reports directly to the Senior Vice President of Regional Engagement and will partner with a dedicated local board to work within Teach For America’s evolving operating model.

The Team
About Teach For America – Delaware

The Teach For America-Delaware region launched in 2011. Today Delaware has 40 corps members and 110 alumni teaching and leading in the shore-lined state in 23 charter and district schools in urban, suburban, and deeply rural communities. The alumni in Delaware serve in leadership roles across these communities, including higher education, department of education, governor’s office, health care, advocacy, and non profit social service organizations. In addition to corps members and alumni in Delaware, there are six total staff members and a Regional Advisory Board.

For the past eighteen months, the region has seen dynamic and ever changing effects on corps member impact and satisfaction from particularly innovative programmatic practices: regional institute with Relay Graduate School of Education, homeroom leader structures to lead matriculation, and the development of our in house school leader certification program – Lead For Delaware. The team runs lean with six devoted staff members focused always on cultivating and leveraging partnerships state and region wide that add expertise and support to the work overall.

Set the vision and direction for Delaware as a partner and leader in the state’s education community
Chart the course for the region by creating a clear, compelling, community-based vision that is grounded in the landscape’s opportunities, needs, and problems
Invest stakeholders in this vision
Support the work of teacher leadership development to create a larger, more effective force of transformational teachers
Develop a comprehensive strategic plan with outcomes and targets to achieve this vision
Be the face and voice for Delaware in local and statewide platforms
Establish national and local networks of education leaders to understand best practices in education reform and how to maximize those best practices in the local landscape
Influence others to achieve outcomes in service of this vision by
Seeking, listening to, and discerning diverse perspectives to formulate informed opinions
Acquiring firsthand community experience to deepen insights and approaches
Navigating and leveraging structures and relationships to gain support
Acquiring knowledge of political and policy landscapes to deepen insights and approach
Demonstrating adaptability in approaching and communicating with diverse audiences to cultivate support and inspire action
Anticipating where conflicts may develop and surfacing, managing, and resolving conflict proactively and constructively
Provide cultural leadership to Delaware by:
Building and maintaining a culture that is grounded in our core values in partnership with staff, corps members, and alumni
Exemplifying our core values in all actions with all internal and external constituents
Creating an environment that fosters diversity and inclusiveness
Lead fundraising efforts and engage and cultivate stakeholders
Deepen our political capital and fundraising capacity to ensure that Delaware is a meaningful part of the educational fabric of the community
Focus on significantly growing and diversifying a sustainable funding base that will include gifts from individuals, corporations, foundations, and districts
Be responsible for a current budget that exceeds 1.2 million dollars
Cultivate new relationships while retaining and continuing to deepen existing relationships with public officials and organizations that are statewide in nature – ranging from district partners, higher education institutions, education non-profits, and civic/social justice organizations – working with all sides to maximize our scale and impact and push our agenda forward.
Partner with the regional advisory board who will help maximize TFA-Delaware’s impact, narrative, and sustainability in the region
Provide executive management to Delaware by:
Attracting, hiring, and developing a team of diverse and talented staff members
Ensuring that the proper infrastructure exists to maximize performance of all people and resources
Managing a team (including through layers) to reach ambitious goals, especially goals that lead to our breakthrough results of:
A connected, inclusive, supported, thriving community of corps members, alumni, and staff contributing to a powerful movement
Corps members, alumni, and staff who have a consistently strong impact for kids both inside and outside of the classroom
A large, diverse, and influential force of corps members and alumni working for educational equity and excellence
Executing the fundamentals of not-for-profit management, especially board management, fundraising, and fiscal management (growing a diversified and sustainable funding base, monitoring the fiscal health of the region, and engaging Teach For America-Delaware board members to maximize impact in the region
Make decisions and demonstrate judgment as the leader of Delaware by:
Exercising good judgment when facing new challenges and viewing situations through multiple lenses to weigh options and consequences
Leading with integrity in ambiguous and/or paradoxical situations
Constructing decision-making processes to engage multiple perspectives at the appropriate times to move work forward
Enacting a suitable, timely course of action when making decisions
Execute a comprehensive school leadership strategy and program with fidelity: Lead For Delaware

Undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university; advanced degree preferred
Significant leadership experience (minimum of 5-10 years) managing a high-performing team toward ambitious outcomes with financial accountability in a complex, mission-driven organization
Demonstrated achievement in fundraising or ensuring financial sustainability of an organization, including an ability to mobilize people and create champions to support organizational mission
Experience building and/or working in partnership with a Board of Directors, in addition to possessing a strong understanding of the roles of the Executive Director and the Board and a successful record of supporting the Board and leveraging talents and contributions
Outstanding interpersonal skills and an ability and desire to develop and maintain deep relationships with variety of diverse constituents
Understanding of the complexity of the local political climate that impacts TFA-Delaware
Experience navigating the political process as it pertains to elected officials, legislators, and staff at the state level, in addition to school district officials and school board members.
Excellent strategic thinking skills to understand and lead in a complex environment
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Personal Characteristics
Strong alignment with, passion for, and commitment to the mission and values of TFA
Sense of urgency around accomplishing goals and objectives
Strong sense of self-awareness and understanding of one’s strengths and areas for development
Commitment to exploring issues of race, class, and privilege
Ability to deal with ambiguity and conflict
Excellent judgment and sound decision-making skills
Willingness and ability to learn about the Delaware education landscape and establish oneself as a key partner in the local movement to fight educational inequity
Ability to work some evenings and weekends.
Ability to travel within the region daily and ability to travel to in-person meetings in various U.S. cities quarterly.