The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is seeking an extraordinary and experienced invidual to lead and direct our School & Teacher Porgams. Top priorities include a mimimum of 5 years proven leadership and management experience in a K-12 setting with strong informal and formal experience working with youth, adults, and educators. 

DATE:                        December, 2013

REPORTS TO:         Vice President of Experience Development and Family Learning

OVERVIEW:   The director provides the educational vision for, and integrity of, the museum’s world class school programs that connect the museum’s exhibit experiences directly to families as well as the formal education community of pre-k -16 schools and universities.  The incumbent will provide oversight and direction in the areas of school services and outreach programs to students and teachers.  He/she will advocate for the Family Learning philosophy of TCM and incorporates it into all programs.  The director will guide and assure the operational effectiveness of all school programs for visitors within and outside of the museum.  Finally, the incumbent will partner with like-minded formal and informal learning institutions in order to develop and implement world-class school programs and opportunities for teacher professional development.

 

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

1.      Directs the museum’s school and teacher program department by providing vision and translating long-range goals into solid strategies to meet audience and stakeholder needs.

2.      Serves in a leadership capacity to ensure that all offerings expand the museum exhibit experiences by connecting our resources to students and teachers.

3.      Provides oversight of programs and develops long-range plans for:

—K-12 units of study and kit resource materials that extend and expand the museum experience into the classroom

— growing professional development programs for K-12 teachers that inspire and motivate teachers to make full use of the museum resources

— a pre-service program that introduces the museum experiences and helps teachers in training understand the value of the family learning experience that the museum provides to their future students

—museum-wide school events produced with Marketing that attract attendance for exhibit openings and draw repeat visitation

—programs for Neighborhood schools

—leveraging school and system-wide partnerships and collaborations that attract key grade levels to museum-related content experiences

—growing school memberships and new partnerships

4.      Recruits, trains and retains highly skilled and well-qualified diverse staff whom possess a strong educational background and exemplify the museum’s belief in family and life-long learning.  Supervises staff positively, performing timely performance assessments and affording them appropriate professional development.  Motivates and inspires staff by keeping them focused on the museum mission, values and strategic plan.

5.      Oversees and directs the managers of school programs, educational resource development and science learning, along with supervising the head librarian for the museum’s library InfoZone to develop and implement a world-class learning experience.

6.      Plans, implements and monitors financial resources throughout operational areas of responsibility; works to effectively market experiences, monitor expenses, record and maintain revenue goals.

7.       Works with colleagues throughout the museum to ensure all maintain timely knowledge of school and teacher programs. Serves on core exhibit development teams for new experiences.

8.      Orchestrates and develops projects for grant funding related to school learning and teacher professional development in congress with development staff.

9.       Continually builds strong relationships with a diversity of strategic like-minded  partners and collaborators to expand the potential of the museum.

 

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