Partner, Sparks Facilitator
Transcend Education
Start Date: Immediate
Role Type: Full time
Title: Partner, Sparks Facilitator
Senior Advisor: Shari Lawrence
Location/ Travel: Flexible; willingness to travel approximately 1-2x monthly. ~30-35% Travel.
Who We Are:
Transcend supports communities to create and spread extraordinary, equitable learning environments.
We fulfill this mission by focusing on two key priorities:
School Design: We partner with communities to design, implement, and spread innovative schools and school model components; and facilitate sharing between schools/communities.
An ecosystem that enables innovation: We strive to build the conditions (funding, policy, capacity, etc.) so that more and more communities can innovate effectively -- to create and sustain equitable and extraordinary learning environments.
To learn more about our work, check out this recent podcast featuring our co-founders!
The Opportunity:
In increasingly large numbers, communities across the nation are recognizing the limitations and profound inequities of the 100+ year-old, one-size-fits-all industrial design of school. The compounding crises of the past year have revealed the need for reinvention toward extraordinary, equitable learning environments that enable all young people to thrive. In part as a result of this momentum, Transcend is partnering with more communities than ever to support their work to redesign school.
About Sparks:
Sparks are short term engagements that help to inspire, share knowledge, build skills, and support organizations in making decisions about their next school design steps. Sparks are an impactful part of the school design work because it's the space where people come to “ah-ha'' together. They are provoked to think differently than they have before. Spark facilitators are excellent at creating an environment that facilitates breakthroughs. See here for an example Spark workshop (deck + video). We know we are successful when our partners want us to return to do more sessions and/or they continue to do school design work on their own or in partnership with Transcend. Partner
Shari Lawrence, who leads Sparks for Transcend, shares why this work is meaningful to her.
Who You Are:
You are an expert adult-learning facilitator, experience-designer, and coach who believes deeply that we must redesign school as we know it, to truly achieve the outcomes we know all students deserve, and to prepare young people to thrive now and into the future. You are relationship-driven in your work and energized by facilitating virtual and in-person experiences that inspire others to not only reimagine the possibilities of school, but also take action in their local contexts. You are able to build relationships quickly and thoughtfully and recognize the importance of leveraging the community’s assets and elevating a whole community’s voice in the redesign process.
In this role, you will get to:
Design Adult Learning & Transformative Experiences
Design coherent, emotive learning experiences that meet the intended outcomes
Flex your creativity and design skills to craft and lead truly transformative learning experiences for adults
Facilitate
Facilitate sessions in ways that inspire and constructively provoke others to come to “ah-ha” moments. Use strategies such as vulnerability, storytelling, data, inspiration, etc.
Assess in the moment and during the design if, and how, the experience will lead to outcomes and modifies as appropriate
Holds safe and brave space for participants to interrogate key themes like DEI, power dynamics, intersectionality of oppression and privilege, and how individual experiences and identities interact with larger systems
Listen and Collaborate Strategically with our Partners
Work collaboratively with partners -- schools, funders, other nonprofit partners -- to understand their needs and develop a plan for sessions that meet that need
Follow up with partners and team members to ensure that expectations are clear, and provide progress updates to ensure we are moving in the right direction
Host stakeholder meetings to enable the partner to provide feedback on session design so that they are fully invested in the session
Build and Grow from strong Internal Relationships
Maintain and contribute to a strong working relationship as a project team and with the partner, gathering and providing feedback to continuously improve
And in doing so, leverage your:
Commitment to Transcend’s mission of transforming education, with a passion for creating innovative school models that generate unprecedented results for all students
Strong and demonstrated commitment to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion. You design, coach, and facilitate with an equity lens
Skillful relationship building and communication skills, working with a diverse range of stakeholders, including school partners, teammates, funders, research partners, etc.
Passion for facilitation, experience design, and creativity
Stewardship of a healthy team culture, and eagerness to share and learn from your teammates
Eagerness to live into Transcend’s core values and support others to do the same
Significant experience in adult facilitation, preferably with direct experience with design, innovation, 21st century skills, change management, and/or “next generation” school models
Entrepreneurial hunger to build, learn, and lead in a lean, and at times, ambiguous context
Perks and Benefits:
Transcend is committed to providing our colleagues with a competitive benefits package. Transcend offers medical, dental and vision coverage options, org-wide holidays, paid time off, paid parental leave, professional development opportunities, and fully remote work. We're also proud of our values-grounded, equity-focused, and fun (!) work environment, incredible colleagues, and a dedication to our purposeful work and to one another. We are open to a range of experience profiles for this role. Early in our process, we will ensure that the salary band for the role based on your experience level and location is aligned with your expectations.
Join Us!
Transcend is an equal opportunity employer. We are building a diverse team, and we encourage candidates from historically under-represented groups to apply.