Staff Specialist - System Learning & Development

District Office - Position - Human Capital
Job Number 8600033645
Start Date
Open Date 04/16/2023
Closing Date
The Office of Human Capital (HC)'s System Learning & Development team leads the district's strategy around one of the Blueprint focus areas: staff leadership. This department is guided by a vision that all staff members across all employee groups will "lead from their seat" to contribute to organizational effectiveness and student success. The System Learning and Development unit will manage the coherence of employee development across the district, track learning experiences for various categories of employees, set standards for learning and development, and assist in design and implementation of learning activities led by professional learning providers across District Office departments and schools. Staff in this unit will set and execute a progressive development agenda to enhance staff and team performance, culture, and engagement. The Staff Specialist role is one of three professional developers/learning advisors who report to the Director - System Learning and Development. Individually and collectively, these three professional developers/learning advisors are responsible for building sustainable staff development and learning programs across City Schools.
These roles require strategic and tactical approaches for developing training modules, curating learning modules within various learning platforms, meeting the needs of multiple constituencies, designing curricula, and facilitating off-the-shelf and internally produced material. This unit must demonstrate tangible value to professional learning participants and a wide range of stakeholders; navigate through a complex, relationship-based organization; and collaborate effectively to influence staff performance through others who lead their work and deliver professional development to them.
Essential Functions

• Creates, executes, and sustains innovative formal and informal learning systems that meet unique needs for staff members in District Office departments, including but not limited to opportunities such as fellowships, workshops, lunch and learns, on-demand learning, retreats, certificate programs, book clubs, administrative professional conferences, leadership academies, mentoring programs, etc.
• Plans and delivers professional development activities for staff members during typical school hours, after school, in the evening, on Saturdays, and during the summer.
• Facilitates interactive, fast-paced, and engaging trainings, commanding the attention of participants.
• Quickly builds trust, credibility, and goodwill with a wide range of diverse employees.
• Facilitates training and implementation support on building inclusive climates that honor the culture, experiences, and humanity of students, families, and communities.
• Designs learning modules with and for departments to determine, acknowledge, and disrupt structures and practices that create and perpetuate systems of inequity.
• Observes employees in action, diagnose needs, and design training interventions to meet those needs.
• Coaches with balance of empathy with a healthy impatience to see progress.
• Considers supervisor contexts and analyzes situations to see beyond the surface of challenges; effectively customizes general practices to fit clients' particular needs.
• Coordinates with the Director - System Learning and Development and the Analyst - Learning Management to continuously measure program effectiveness.
• Monitors participants' and supervisors' satisfaction with the Human Capital Office and its learning and development programs and develops and executes improvement plans to increase satisfaction.
• Analyzes data - including student performance, educator professional practice, and participant perception data - to evaluate the successes and challenges of learning and development programs.
• Prepares statistical and narrative reports surfacing key policy questions based on underlying data and/or graphs, as appropriate; presents research results and policy recommendations.
• Represents the Human Capital Office to audiences across the district, serving as a key ambassador for the Human Capital Office and conveying the team's strategies, priorities, and core values at all times.
• Creates, executes, and sustains train-the-trainer models for key learning modules to be rolled out across District Office employee populations.
• Designs and facilitates learning including customized off-the-shelf content, in-house developed content, and train-the-trainer materials.
• Collaborates with other Human Capital departments and staff, learning development professionals, and school and District Office supervisors to identify development needs/gaps and define desired outcomes.
• Manages internal and external facilitator relationships and vendor relationships, including onboarding/orienting third party partners to City Schools' learning and development approaches.
• Creates and leads Facilitator Communities of Practice (COPs) to foster learning agility and build facilitation capacity across the organization.
• Ensures all aspects of development incorporate and strengthen the district's commitment to racial equity and inclusion.
• Maintains knowledge of best practices and organizational culture to develop and deliver targeted and effective leadership development and engagement programs and initiatives.
• Keeps abreast of changes in City Schools' policies, procedures, negotiated agreements, school/student achievement and business function data, performance data and core human capital areas as they relate to delivering quality human capital services to all customers and increasing workforce effectiveness.
• Prepares and distributes communications concerning policies and procedures to ensure staff is well informed and knowledgeable about human capital matters.
• Recommends new approaches, policies, and procedures to effect continual improvements in efficiency of department and services performed.
• Performs and promotes all activities in compliance with equal employment and nondiscrimination policies; follows federal laws, state laws, school board policies and the professional standards.

Maximum Salary 86801.00
Minimum Salary 70148.00
Desired Qualifications

• Required: Bachelor's degree in human resources, education, business administration, organizational leadership, sociology, cultural studies, or a closely related field from an accredited college or university.
  • Candidates with a Bachelor's degree in a field not closely related to one of the six named fields may substitute one additional year of experience (outlined below) in place of study in a field closely related to one of the six named fields.
• Required: At least four years of experience in learning and development, including design, facilitation, and/or coordination of professional development activities for adults.

Additional skills and experiences we seek

• Enthusiasm for highly complex problem solving, ever-changing environments, and iterative ways of working with an immense amount of patience and empathy for others.
• Subject matter expertise in adult learning theory, modern learning practices, adaptive leadership, and best practices for instructional design.
• Evidence of attention to racial equity in prior work experiences.
• Ability to make consistent and creative connections among people, programs, and strategic ideas.
• Ability to effectively and quickly build relationships and establish trust, respect, and confidence.
• Excellent project management, planning, and analytical skills.
• Ability to anticipate problems in advance and take a solutions-oriented approach.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with exceptional writing and editing skills.
• Passion for developing others and helping them grow on their professional journey.
• Experience leading facilitation, coaching, making presentations, and managing group dynamics.
• Understanding of psychometrics and working knowledge of multiple psychological assessments.
• Ability to apply a results-based approach to leadership development programs.
• Advanced skills in the use of Windows environment and applications including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Excellent interpersonal and organizational skills with demonstrated ability to identify, prioritize, organize tasks in order to efficiently and effectively accomplish assigned and self-generated tasks.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with teams and independently.

Full time or Part time Full time
Additional Details
Qualified candidates for the above position must submit the following:

• Completed online application
• Resume that clearly demonstrates the above minimum qualifications. It is important that you include all experiences and education related to the position to which you are applying.
• Upload copies of all transcripts -undergraduate, graduate and all MSDE Certifications
• Must provide three (3) professional references to include: name, title, business address, e-mail address and phone number
• All documentation/certification necessary (scanned copies accepted) to substantiate minimum qualifications; must be uploaded into application
• All documentation must be scanned and uploaded to application

Benefits -- This position is eligible for benefits. To review the available options please see the information relevant to the union for this position by viewing the following link: http://www.baltimorecityschools.org

• Baltimore City Public Schools ("City Schools") does not discriminate in its employment, programs, and activities based on race, ethnicity, color, ancestry, national origin, nationality, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy or parenting status, family structure, ability (cognitive, social/emotional, and physical), veteran status, genetic information, age, immigration or citizenship status, socioeconomic status, language, or any other legally or constitutionally protected attributes or affiliations. Discrimination undermines our community's long-standing efforts to create, foster, and promote equity and inclusion for all. Some examples of discrimination include acts of hate, violence, harassment, bullying, or retaliation. For more information, see City Schools' non-discrimination statemen City Schools also provides equal access to the Boy and Girl Scouts and other designated youth groups.

For inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies, please contact the Equal Employment Opportunity Manager, 200 E. North Avenue, Room 208, Baltimore, MD 21202; 410-396-8542 (phone); 410-396-2955 (fax).
This position is affiliated with the Paraprofessionals and School Related Personnel (PSRP) bargaining unit.
This position is affiliated with the City Retirement Plan.