THE ROLE
Leadership
The Director of National Programs and Outreach for K-12 reports to the Chief Administrative Officer and the Chief Academic Officer (CAOs) of the Clerc Center and serves on the Clerc Center’s leadership team, providing counsel on matters affecting education for deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind students across the nation. The successful applicant serves as a transformative academic leader, locally and nationally, providing direction to the National Programs and Outreach team, and supporting collaborative efforts both within the Clerc Center and with partners across the country. The Director engages University leaders on areas of intersection including research; bilingual education; equity, diversity and inclusion; outreach; and professional studies.
The Director oversees the national outreach, training, and dissemination efforts of the Clerc Center and creates innovative new programs and services to better meet the needs of both professionals working with deaf and hard of hearing students and their families. The Director also maintains a national leadership role through collaboration and partnership.
The Director provides leadership and guidance to the CAOs in the development of the Clerc Center’s strategic plan and ensures that priorities are based on input from the broad range of Clerc Center constituents in compliance with requirements of the Education of the Deaf Act (EDA).
The Director works in a collaborative shared leadership team with the Director of National Programs and Outreach (Early Intervention), the Director of National School and Program Partnerships, and the Director of Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research to lead the Clerc Center’s comprehensive national services.
Innovation
The core work of the Director is to engage with potential partners, both within the Clerc Center’s demonstration schools and with schools and programs nationwide, to develop a national network and learning community. By identifying promising practices that address the needs of a diverse student body and underserved populations, in a variety of educational environments, the Director will have multiple areas of focus for the term of the next strategic plan cycle including:
• National Learning and Engagement Platform: Build a national library of resources to be housed in the Clerc Center’s new National Learning and Engagement Platform. Resources will include virtual and face to face training events; on-demand content for teachers, service professionals, and families; interactive learning cohorts; and affinity groups. The Director will provide leadership in achieving the Clerc Center’s goal of creating strong partnerships and a national network of professionals to share and showcase the resources available from schools and programs across the United States, and to build active and engaged learning communities across a broad spectrum of content areas and interests.
• National Professional Development Program: Envision and build nationwide professional development programs that are sequenced and provide spiral content to support learning throughout professional tenure and across a wide variety of disciplines. By developing teams of trainers, and train-the-trainer programs, the Director will build nationwide networks of qualified individuals to provide professional development in all regions of the United States Focus areas will include, but will not be limited to, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and Anti-Bias initiatives;
technology to advance education for deaf students; family engagement practices; and bilingual instructional strategies.
• Expanding Reach: In collaboration with the leadership team, the Director will innovate outreach strategies to reach professionals and families. Through strategic organizational partnerships, collaboration with the Gallaudet University Regional Centers, and relationships with networks of
outreach professionals, the Director will work to expand the network of professionals and families engaged with the Clerc Center’s programs and services, with a focus on traditionally underserved
communities.
Collaboration
The overarching goal for the Clerc Center’s work is excellence in national deaf education by identifying and sharing instructional strategies; innovative approaches to content delivery, service provision, and family engagement; and strategies that engage students in anti-bias work and incorporate the core principles of equity, diversity and inclusion.
Success in this work requires collaborations locally and nationally. Through collaborations with school leaders at the Clerc Center’s demonstration schools, the Director will build on the vision currently in place to have promising practices and instructional techniques within KDES and MSSD developed into national resources and programs, and cultivate a sense of national impact within both schools. Nationwide collaboration will include building and enhancing partnerships with organizations serving professionals that work with deaf and hard of hearing youth, and working towards the vision of a national network of schools and programs supporting excellence in deaf education through cooperative growth, development, and success.