Senior Program Director

SchoolSmartKC (SSKC) is a trusted partner in the Kansas City Public Education System, working across district and charter boundaries, rooted in community-driven solutions, and delivering measurable student success.

Our Vision – Every child within the Kansas City Public Education System (KCPES) has access to a quality education and opportunities for a vibrant, economically independent adulthood, and our city thrives.

Our Mission – We accelerate student proficiency and growth through centering community networks, championing student success levers, and reimagining education.

What We Believe – Families and communities drive quality education. Every learner deserves what they need to thrive. Our work is bold, courageous, strategic, data-driven, and above all, rooted in community. The Senior Program Director reports to the President/CEO. The position has no direct reports. This role leads programs across the Kansas City Public Education System and works directly with school and district leaders.
Much of this role happens in partnership with community literacy leaders, including principals and district leaders. The person in this role must be credible in all of these rooms on the first visit. They sit with leaders, think through the complexities of education with them, and work collaboratively toward options not already considered.
The largest single piece of this portfolio, however not limited to, is Literacy for All Students (LFAS), SchoolSmartKC’s citywide K-3 literacy initiative. LFAS runs across multiple districts and charter organizations in Kansas City Public Education System and combines principal and coach development, classroom coaching, tutoring, family engagement, and shared measurement. The Senior Program Director helps lead that work.

Specific responsibilities include:

Literacy for All Students (LFAS)

• Helps lead LFAS across participating schools and school systems, from cohort launch, year-end results, to sustainability plans.
• Works with principals and instructional coaches on the practice that moves early reading: core instruction, small group work, tutoring, and use of formative data.
• Supports the principal and coach fellowship partners, the research partner, and keeps the delivery schedule on track.
• Reviews cohort literacy data with schools across the year and turns it into next steps partnering schools can act on.
• Keeps LFAS coherent as new cohorts launch, so schools that joined in different years receive the same quality of support.

Working with school, district leaders, and community literacy leaders

• Serves as a thinking partner to principals, district leaders, charter leaders, and community partners, bringing options and questions.
• Learns what is actually happening in a school or system before proposing a change.
• Translates between school practice and organizational strategy. Knows what is possible inside a building during a normal week, month, year.
• Holds partners to their commitments, deliverables, and outcomes while keeping the relationship strong.

Program leadership

• Leads the design, delivery, evaluation, and improvement of assigned programs.
• Sets program goals, metrics, and reporting. Uses outcome and evaluation data to change course when the data calls for it.
• Names risks and barriers early and brings solutions.
• Assists in building the systems, processes, and tools the program team works from.
• Develops and manages program budgets.

Strategy across the system

• Shapes SchoolSmartKC strategy and long-term priorities through research, data, community input, and what school leaders report from the field.
• Participates in planning across SchoolSmartKC’s pillars so the work connects instead of running in parallel.
• Tracks shifts across the Kansas City Public Education System, including policy, funding, research, and partner activity. Brings that back to the team and acts on it.
• Stays current on instructional research and practice at the local and national level, across content areas. This includes early literacy and early numeracy, and the shifts moving in each. Brings what is working elsewhere into the Kansas City conversation.

External representation and funding

• Represents SchoolSmartKC with schools, community groups, funders, policymakers, and peer organizations at the local, state, and national level.
• Builds partnerships that extend the reach of the work and opens new opportunities.
• Leads meetings and presentations for audiences that range from school staff to funder boards.
• Participates in grant development, proposals, reporting, and funder relationships. Finds new funding to sustain the programs.

People and team

• Leads project teams, contracted partners, and school-based work without direct authority over the people doing it.
• Contributes to organizational planning and decisions.
• Other duties and projects as assigned.

Education: Master’s degree required, or equivalent leadership experience in a school system. Any education-related field is acceptable, including education leadership, educational administration, curriculum and instruction, public policy, or a related discipline.

Required experience: Leadership inside a school or school system at the elementary level (at a minimum). This means a role that carried authority and accountability for student outcomes: principal, assistant principal, dean of instruction, curriculum or instructional director, academic officer, executive director, or a network or central office leadership role in a district or charter organization. Classroom teaching experience alone does not meet this requirement.

Additional experience: Ten or more years of progressively responsible experience, including at least five years leading teams and managing complex initiatives. Experience in nonprofit leadership, education policy, community partnership, or system-level education work strongly preferred.

Also required: Demonstrated experience building partnerships, managing budgets, and leading people who do not report to them. Experience with grant development and funder relationships strongly preferred.

Strongly preferred: Leadership of early literacy or reading improvement work. Working knowledge of structured literacy and the research base behind K-3 reading instruction, and a track record of moving it from plan into classrooms.

Travel: Regular local travel across Kansas City, including school sites. Occasional state and national travel.
  The strongest candidate has led in schools and can show it in conversation. School and district leaders decide early whether the person across the table has done the work. That judgment sets the ceiling on everything else in this role.
A successful candidate will also possess:

• A clear commitment to SchoolSmartKC’s mission and to improving outcomes for students.
• Credibility with school and district leaders, earned through experience those leaders recognize.
• Enough fluency in K-3 literacy practice and data to hold a credible conversation with a reading coach or a curriculum director.
• The habit of thinking with people, asks before advising.
• Comfort with open-ended problem solving where the answer is not known at the start.
• The confidence to say “I do not know” and then work the problem alongside a partner.
• Strategic thinking, sees what is coming and prepares for it.
• Systems thinking, connects work across programs, schools, and partners.
• The ability to turn organizational priorities into plans with measurable results.
• Strong writing, speaking, and presentation skills across various audiences.
• The ability to build agreement across groups that do not always agree.
• Sound judgment, discretion, and integrity.
• The ability to handle conflict directly and constructively.
• Openness to feedback, continuous learning, and improvement.
• Cultural competence and respect for different perspectives and experiences.

All statements in this position description describe the general nature of the work being performed and are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required. The organization reserves the right to modify job duties or job descriptions at any time.
  The salary range for this position is $115,000 to $145,000, based on experience and qualifications. SchoolSmartKC also provides a full benefits package. SchoolSmartKC firmly supports the principle and philosophy of equal opportunity for all individuals, regardless of age, race, gender, creed, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected category pursuant to applicable federal, state, or local law.

APPLICATION PROCESS

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To apply, please email your resume and cover letter to hr@schoolsmartkc.org by October 30, 2026.