About CASEL » Job Opportunities

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is accepting applications for a Program Director at our Chicago, Illinois office.

• Program Director Position: Please submit applications by September 15, 2008 for fullest consideration. Click here to download position description
• Executive Director Position: Please submit applications by May 15, 2008 for fullest consideration. Click here to download position description

Applicants should submit a cover letter and resume with three (3) current references we can contact. Please indicate your salary history and requirements, and how you learned about the position. Applications can be sent to:

Program Search Committee Chair
c/o CASEL
910 W. Van Buren St. #168
Chicago, IL. 60607

You may also submit this information electronically to search@casel.org. Questions may be submitted to this same email address.

CASEL is an equal opportunity employer.

Organizational Overview and Background Material for Applicants

CASEL has three organizational goals: Goal 1: Advance the science of social and emotional learning (SEL); Goal 2: Expand integrated, evidence-based SEL practice; and Goal 3: Strengthen the field and the impact of social and emotional learning.

CASEL recently became a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization to incorporate and further expand its training and technical assistance, policy, communications, and field-building activities. CASEL has a very active national Board of Directors, chaired by Dr. Timothy Shriver. Dr. Roger Weissberg - the President of CASEL, a member of the Board, and a Professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) - currently serves as CASEL's Interim Executive Director. Mary Utne O’Brien serves as CASEL’s Vice President of Strategic Iniatives.

At this time CASEL is seeking to add up to 10 full-time professionals to its staff to assist in the expansion of evidence-based SEL practice. These will include senior staff in the areas of program, training, evaluation, communications, and development, as well as an Executive Director to oversee and fully operationalize CASEL and provide leadership in implementing its strategic plan. Dr. Weissberg will continue to provide leadership to a staff at UIC engaged in SEL research, while CASEL will establish and manage the SEL training and technical assistance process, the publication and dissemination of training products and communications, and resource development activities. CASEL will collaborate with UIC staff and nationally renowned researchers on a variety of initiatives to assure that SEL science is integrated into all of its work in expanding SEL practice. CASEL is poised to play a crucial role in advancing a unique and vitally important vision of education in the United States and the world - that of educating the heart as well as the minds of children.

Additional recommended background materials on SEL and our organization for applicants:

• CASEL 10-year report
• CASEL strategic plan
• CASEL collaborator network
• CASEL Forum report
• CASEL brief: What is SEL & What is CASEL
• CASEL brief: Youth and schools today
• No new wars!
• No emotion left behind
• Social emotional learning and successful school performance
• School-based prevention: Promoting positive social development through SEL

Program Director

Position Summary

The CASEL Program Director will be a senior level, inspirational, and visionary manager responsible for the development and oversight of CASEL’s Program Department, which is charged with guiding districts, states and countries to systematically and broadly implement and sustain evidence-based SEL programming. The Program Department will be comprised of (a) a comprehensive, income-generating Training and Technical Assistance Unit, staffed by a Training Unit Manager, multiple training specialists, and an administrative assistant; and (b) a State Expansion Unit, that will work with key agency personnel and policymakers in multiple states to identify and promulgate educational policies and practices that promote state-wide implementation of evidence-based SEL.

The Program Director: (a) ensures that CASEL product development and trainings are informed by the best international science-based SEL practice; (b) collaborates with research staff at CASEL, UIC, and nationally in conducting experimental evaluations of various CASEL products and trainings, especially with regard to their impact on school practice; (c) collaborates with CASEL’s Communications Department to ensure the production of high-quality marketing and communications vehicles to encourage and support the implementation of sustained school-based SEL programming in all 50 states; and (d) establishes and maintains collaborations with other SEL leaders in the field to ensure that CASEL’s product selection or development, as well as training, are research-based, state-of-the-art, and continuously improving.

With the Executive Director, the Program Director will create the vision, plan, and successful business practices for all of the functions within the Program Department, ensuring that they are appropriately resourced through the creation of business plans and funding proposals, as necessary and appropriate. The Program Director will also serve as a senior spokesperson for CASEL, and will work strategically with CASEL's collaborating partners to advance the science and practice of SEL.

Reports to:  The Executive Director of CASEL

Principal Duties and and Areas of Responsibility

Development and Implementation of Program

• Oversees the creation of the operational plan for the Training and Technical Assistance Unit to ensure that it achieves the goals set for it in CASEL’s strategic plan at the highest level of excellence. Directly or indirectly oversees all staff in this area, insuring the high quality of training, technical assistance and product development, and the efficient and effective functioning of the Unit as a whole.
• Oversees the implementation of CASEL’s Initiative for State Expansion of Evidence-based SEL Practice, ensuring that its goals are met at the highest level of excellence. Specifically, fully conceptualizes this project with CASEL’s Executive Director, the Board Program Committee and other advisors, and recruits senior staff to assist in its implementation.
• Collaborates with researchers to evaluate CASEL efforts to expand SEL practice and promote effective school programming that benefits children.
• Proposes annual and long-term objectives and budgets for all Program Department activities and oversees the implementation of staff work plans to accomplish these objectives.
• With the Executive Director, creates the vision and successful business practices for the Program Department, ensuring that it is appropriately resourced through the creation of business plans and funding proposals, as necessary and appropriate. Writes proposals to generate support for efforts to expand evidence-based practice nationally and internationally.
• Ensures that CASEL projects and products reflect the most up-to-date state of knowledge and practice, and informs CASEL’s senior staff and Executive Director of evolving new directions and challenges in SEL and the field of education.

Development of the Field of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

• Writes papers and makes presentations for professional and policy audiences about the efforts and achievements of CASEL’s program area as well as about advances in SEL training, programming, and policy.
• Collaborates closely with national leaders and UIC staff, especially in regard to knowledge creation and evaluation and assessment of ongoing program activities, and participates in different advisory groups and collaborative initiatives in order to meet program goals.
• Provides direct input into the development of CASEL’s strategic plan.
• Participates in the CASEL Board’s Program Committee as requested.
• As requested by CASEL’s Executive Director, represents CASEL to international, national, state, and local audiences.

Qualifications

• Master’s or Doctoral degree in behavioral science or education
• Minimum of eight years experience in positions of increasing responsibility in organizations focused on research-based promotion of SEL, academic performance, youth development, mental health, and citizenship
• Demonstrated success in grant writing
• Experience in leading or collaborating on the design, development, funding and implementation of cutting-edge education, prevention, and youth-development evaluations
• Knowledge of school-based programming, educational trends, SEL, organizational change, and programming for diverse populations
• Substantial experience in preparation of professional development products and services and implementation of professional development training events
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral; demonstrated ability to write project reports and articles for publication based on project outcomes and features
• Experience in developing and managing budgets, and sufficient business and marketing expertise to ensure the successful functioning of the Training Unit
• Strong supervisory and strategic planning skills, with a minimum of 5 years experience in managing senior staff and projects within nonprofit organizations
• Commitment to CASEL’s mission and core beliefs, and the capacity to engender enthusiasm for them in others
• Ability to model social, emotional, and cultural competence
• Availability to travel on a monthly basis

Commensurate with experience